Exiles In Opposition In Schools Competition

Saturday, March 1 sees two Exiles in opposition as captains of opposing teams in the penultimate round of the Daily Mail Cup for English Schools.

They will be joined by four other Exiles, which will make for an excellent representation in the semi-final of the biggest rugby cup tournament in Britain.

The captain of Barnard Castle is Sean Dougall, last season’s Ireland Under-18 flanker and a member to date of this year’s Under-19 training squad. He is also an Academy player at Leeds Carnegie and Methodist College pupils of yesteryear will remember his father Gregor playing on the wing.

The captain of St. Benedict’s is Rowan Halsall, the former England Under-16 flanker and current London Wasps Academy player. Rowan’s father Peter is, of course, the Exiles’ head coach.

St. Benedict’s had a visit at their final training session from Keith Wood, who is pictured with (l-r): centre Jack Dever, winger Daniel Porter, centre James Stephenson, hooker Charlie Allum and flanker and captain Rowan Halsall.

– Photo courtesy of Keith Brown