Glorious nearly men of St Peter’s will keep trying

Brendan Gallagher continues his series looking at rugby’s great schools

St Peter’s York might be the third oldest school in the English-speaking world but they are a modern forward thinking establishment and in recent years that has been well reflected by their rugby sides.

Not blessed with huge playing numbers and not really wishing to go down the sporting scholarships route they have nonetheless become a fiercely competitive well-coached side that can never be discounted in national competitions and enjoys giving the big boys a bloody nose.

St Peter’s like to ‘make some noise’ on the rugby pitch, rather appropriate for a school that also gave us Guy Fawkes and James Bond composer and five-time Oscar winner John Barry who was a chorister at the school.

The modern-day St Peter’s rugby story began with an exceptional year group that went unbeaten as they rose through the ranks, a journey which culminated with them winning the Daily Mail U15 Cup at Twickenham in 2002 when they beat Outwood Grange 16-7 in the final at Twickenham.

Many had been playing together since the age of seven or eight at the school’s prep school. After benefitting from a couple of byes in the early rounds, St Peter’s had to work hard for their moment of glory, beating northern powerhouses Leeds GS, Bradford GS, Stonyhurst, St Ambrose College and Prince Henry’s HS before a memorable 22-5 win over Millfield in their semi-final at Castlecroft.

As if to illustrate yet again how quickly schoolboy players develop, future England Schools and Leeds Tykes centre Peter Wackett was only a replacement for this side.That 2002 year group, a close-knit team full of competent determined players rather than out-and-out stars, moved steadily through school and from a long way out their best shot at the Daily Mail U18 title seemed to be in the 2004-5 season.

The year before, as lower sixths, they reached round six before losing to RGS Lancaster, but the following season they opened their account with a massive 81-0 win over Leeds GS in the third round. Next came a scrappy 10-3 win over a big Hymer’s College side which was excellent preparation for the sterner challenges ahead.

So close: St Peter’s York, Daily Mail Cup finalists 2005. Inset: Jonny Bairstow

Future hope: Oliver Tomalin

St Peter’s beat an outstanding Barnard Castle side 22-18 two weeks after they had lost to the same opponents in a friendly, and then avenged their defeat against RGS Lancaster the previous year with a satisfying 28-8 win. In the quarter-finals they accounted for RGS Worcester 20-8 which set up the semi-final of all semi-finals against the winning machine that was Colston’s College, unbeaten in the seven seasons in which they had entered the competition since they first won it in 1995. Colston’s went into the game as the reigning champions having beaten Barnard Castle in the 2004 final.

The Bristol school were strong favourites but this was St Peter’s moment and they pulled off a thrilling 19-14 win, Ed Hilling scoring a try which Charlie Parry converted. Parry also slotted three penalties and James Marsden added an important dropped goal. Come the final and St Peter’s were automatically installed as strong favourites against Exeter College. Could they peak again so soon?

For 30 minutes all seemed straightforward as they rushed into a commanding 20-5 lead off the back of an exhilarating display of all-court rugby. Ed Hough scored two tries and James Pang claimed a third while Parry slotted a conversion and a penalty.

And then, Exeter staged a wonderful comeback. The Devonians had come from behind to win their last four ties and St Peter’s coach Richard Francis had been emphasising the possibility all week. As it was, they regained a little composure when Parry kicked a second penalty to stretch St Peter’s precarious lead to 22-17 but in the last minute Exeter full-back Ben Scott struck for a try to level the scores before centre Glen Channing nervelessly popped over the conversion to complete the comeback win.

St Peter’s had been hoping their U15 team would be joining them in their Twickenham gala day that season but agonisingly they were beaten 19-11 in the semi-final by eventual winners St Benedict’s Ealing. Kicking the goals for St Peter’s that season was future England cricketer Jonny Bairstow, a hard running back with quite a future in the game before cricket claimed his full attention.

St Peter’s continued to be doughty fighters in the competition even if they failed to progress to the business end of proceedings over the next three seasons. All three times they encountered top quality sides unusually early in the competition, narrowly losing to St Benedict’s Ealing, John Fisher and KCS Wimbledon. Undeterred, they put a major campaign together in the 2008-9 season and an 18-14 quarterfinal win over old rivals St Benedict’s seemed to auger well and also set up a long-awaited clash with their namesakes St Peter’s Gloucester.

Triumph: St Peter’s York win the U16s Rosslyn Park Sevens in 2019

This was another high octane encounter with the powerful Gloucestershire side starting as favourites and they duly led 27- 13 with just five minutes to go. Showing real guts, however, the Yorkshire side staged a storming finish to score two late tries to lose just 27-25. Leeds Carnegie Academy wing Chris McTurk scored two tries for the losers and scrum-half Tristan Wike went over for a third from a tapped penalty move.

St Peter’s First XV, off the back of a summer tour to Argentina, were unbeaten in the 2017 season with their one blemish being a draw in the Cup against QEGS Wakefield who advanced on tries scored.

Their ten wins and a draw were enough to see them placed sixth in the Daily Mail Merit trophy and many of that side re-mustered in the Lent term of 2018 and made off with the prestigious Sedbergh Tens competition and reached the Vase final at Rosslyn Park where they lost 24-20 in an entertaining final against Blundell’s.

They were also unbeaten outside of cup competitions in 2016, when they finished fourth in the merit table while 2012 was another unbeaten one on their strong regular season circuit although there was a defeat against Manchester GS in the Daily Mail Cup.

At the Rosslyn Park Sevens the school landed a major title in 2019 when their Colts team won the U16 tournament, coming from behind in the final minute to beat Millfield in the final.The school were equally proud that the Sevens squad managed to garner 67 GCSEs in exams a few weeks later!

That U16 year group was exceptional and there were high hopes for them as they progressed into the sixth form but like so many others they have been thwarted by Covid. Even as lower sixth formers they show signs of what might be to come at the St Joseph’s tournament in 2019 but since then have been largely side-lined although that hasn’t stopped exciting utility back Oliver Tomalin earning a place in the England U18 Development camps.