Scotch College

Three Scotch rugby players in state under 18 team

Jack North, Angus Hamilton & Patrick Swan to represent Victoria

Words: DYLAN COLEMAN • TEACHER-IN-CHARGE: RUGBY

Rugby at Scotch continues to thrive, with strong teams at all year levels, mainly due to the excellent commitment of our coaching staff, headed by Mr Bruce Norton who has guided rugby at the school for the past 10 years.

Three of our outstanding 1st XV players were selected to represent Victoria at under 18 level: Patrick Swan, who was also awarded the captaincy, Jack North and Angus Hamilton.

When the Australian rugby team, the Wallabies, came to Melbourne in the lead-up to their Test match against Ireland on 14 June, these three boys were lucky enough to train with the Australian forward coach, Andrew Foley.

The Wallabies also held a training session at Xavier College that week, and one of our players, Chris Ling, was invited to train with the squad under the direction of new coach Robbie Deans.

Chris said of the experience: ‘It was really good to see how the Wallabies’ training didn’t differ all that much from ours; they still enjoyed it and mucked around. It was also good to talk to them, to see where they were before they were Wallabies. The skill of all of them was amazing.’

Our under 14 boys, undefeated last year, also attended a rugby education day at Melbourne Grammar, where they met Wallabies Nathan Sharpe and Cameron Shepherd. The focus of the talk was on ‘good sportsmanship’, and I am pleased to say that our boys represented their school impeccably.

My warm thanks go to the Scrum Club, whose members braved all kinds of weather to run barbecues, erect tents and generally ensure the smooth running of the season. GS