Emyr Lewis (Head of Rugby) Rugby Update

We had a brilliant evening celebrating the achievements of the Loughborough Grammar School Rugby Club at the annual rugby dinner in Burton Hall.  

Over 250 players and coaches joined Mr Lewis and our rugby captains to recount the highs and lows of the season. This year, the club played with immense pride, passion and teamwork.  

The Exigent Group Player Pathway Programme is taking rugby to another level driving standards and changing the way boys are thinking about rugby.  

On Saturday 16 September 2023, we’ll be celebrating 100 Years of LGS Rugby with an alumni lunch and First XV game against Nottingham Trent. Please e-mail us with your LGS rugby memories.

Emyr Lewis (Head of Rugby) on LGS Rugby Season 2022/23

Rugby has been very consistent and steady again this year with plenty of boys participating and clearly enjoying the game of rugby.

Rugby as you all know, gives you so much. I asked the boys at our annual LGS Rugby Dinner and here are just some of their answers:

• Respect – opposition, referees
• Discipline
• Confidence
• Sportsmanship, part of a team
• Social – making friends
• Resilience – never giving up, winning, losing with grace
• Culture
• Fun way to build fitness and character.

In 2021/22 we had a 44% win ratio. In 2022/23 our win ratio is 58%. 

Rugby First XV winning the Derby against Notts High

As I say every year, it’s not just about the statistics and certainly not the win ratio. But let’s be honest, as much as we promote  participation, there’s nothing like winning! Just ask the Year 13’s. Their win ratio over their journey here would be well below 50%, but they stuck at it, worked hard as a group and the rewards are that they have enjoyed a hugely successful season this year! 

Memories are from winning; you never remember losing…… 

However, what’s key to me is the number of boys that want to play and represent their School. Participation is very important here and it’s just amazing to see so many boys wanting to play rugby and represent LGS. Around 250 boys have represented the School, whether it be for C, B or A team. That’s pretty much a quarter of LGS playing rugby. We are fully inclusive in offering every boy the opportunity to represent the school at some point in their first year! 

It’s been a good season, and its credit to our boys for the extra work they put in outside of Games time. The gym is becoming more and more popular, even turning boys away (maybe we need more investment here to extend!) and training under the mobile floodlights has made a huge difference in terms of preparation time for our Saturday fixtures.  

I have told the senior squad on several occasions this season, that, due to their success this year, the school has been talking about them and how rugby has made a difference to the year groups. ‘Role models’ have certainly been mentioned on several occasions. I want to say how proud I have been to work with the seniors this year. What has impressed me the most is their attitude, not just on the field, where they never give up but also off it. Each away game, the changing rooms have been left the same as when we arrived for the fixture. No kit has gone missing, and punctuality and dress code have been excellent. These are small things, but they make a HUGE difference to how you approach a game. 

Things are continuing to change considerably off the field here. Our links with the University and the Tigers are strong, Year 8’s and senior boys can vouch for that, with 1XV captain Teddy Leatherbarrow and Fraser Gotcher from the Tigers community department coming in and helping with the coaching. We are continuously working to see if we can get more coaches to Quorn to run sessions throughout all age groups at the school. Mr Paterson, who the seniors know well, has been an integral part of the senior’s success this season; his experience has certainly made a big difference.  

The recent addition of the strength and conditioning coach, Mr Lafford-Smith, will only improve on what are solid foundations and look towards pushing to that next level, where we, as a school, should be. 

The Exigent Player Pathway Programme was launched Easter 2021, which current Year 12’s have benefitted from with extra training in the gym and the swimming pool. The idea of this pathway is to show that we do take our rugby seriously here and to give the players that extra bit of coaching where, they haven’t had in the past, which in turn will make them stronger and more physical athletes. 

Off the field, we have recorded numerous games not only for the seniors but right through the school, and this has gone down very well with the players. For the players, to be able to sit and watch back their game and then evaluate and give feedback on how they felt it went is invaluable. 

The seniors experienced a pre-season to Scotland back in August and due to the success of this, are now going to Portugal in August 2023 to prepare for the forthcoming season. 

I would imagine several players would like the so-called easier schools to play against. However, I firmly believe these are the schools we should, and need to, test ourselves against on a regular basis if we are to strive for excellence. It’s no good playing teams and winning comfortably… Believe me, beating one of those schools would feel far more rewarding than winning 50 points on a Saturday afternoon. We currently have the balance right. 

I like to use the expression “punching above our weight” and we have done so on many occasions this year.  

This coming season, we are celebrating 100 years of rugby at LGS. There will be a couple of events to mark the occasion, and to kick it off, the First XV will playing Trent at Quorn with 3pm kick off on Saturday 16 September. Alumni are welcome to come along to celebrate this occasion, and of course, to support the boys. I envisage this to be such a fun and exciting afternoon for all! 

We’re grateful for the heroes who do the unseen work to make rugby work so well. Caretakers who maintain Quorn to such an excellent standard; our Groundsmen who upkeep the best pitches on our circuit and the medical staff who make sure all the boys can go out and enjoy what they love most in a safe environment. Keith, who was Head groundsman at Manchester United and Twickenham for most of his adult life and most recently was head groundsman at the football world cup in Qatar! 

Awards  

We introduced ‘Clubman of the Year’ six years ago. It’s an award that’s worthy of hard work, a never give up attitude and almost to a point, ‘I’m going to prove to everyone that I am good enough to represent the School’. It is a player that you would want by your side in the trenches, who won’t let you down and is totally committed to the cause. This year it goes to a boy, who retired from the game in year 8. I remember him telling me, ‘I’m too small sir, so I’m going to give Hockey a go.’ He should have realised then that that was always going to be bad move. Anyway, he came to see me again at the end of last season and said ‘I’m going to give rugby a go sir.’ 18 months later and about 20kg heavier, he is now thriving and certainly putting his hand up for first team rugby next year. The award for clubman of the Year 2022/23 is Jack. 

Another person you may or may not recognise, is current consultant coach at the Tigers, Danny Wilson, who the senior boys had the pleasure of having a training session under at Glasgow in August. Danny will be taking over as Assistant Director of Rugby at Harlequins from the June this year. Looking at the recent results at the Tigers, I’m sure they will be sad to see him leave. He has also coached across all the regions in Wales, and a highlight would be winning the Challenge cup with Cardiff Blues. He then went onto coaching the Scotland National team and is no doubt part of the transformation that is going on there as many of the players are still there from when he was part of the set up. 

I asked earlier what rugby has given you, and Danny being here is a great example. We have been friends since university and both have taken similar, but slightly different paths, in the game of rugby. We are still friends now, 25 years later. We played together at Cardiff Met back in the day and once we graduated, I continued my career playing and Danny went into coaching. I’ll leave it you to decide who has been the most successful! 

I may be slightly controversial here, but NO SPORT gives you what rugby does. The togetherness it generates and friendships it develops is something I know other sports are envious of. Our boys here will not forget these memories playing for their school. 

I always look forward to the 7’s season and it was one to remember. With so many tournaments and opportunities for the boys to miss school, it is without doubt the more entertaining part of the season. We continue to get as many players out and playing against some of the best schools in the country, which is a fantastic opportunity for them. 

And lastly, I mentioned earlier about the amount of time the boys give up to train, but the coaches also give up their time, on top of several other commitments: lesson planning, marking, young families etc. Without these people, rugby would be impossible. One of these people is Mr Hatfield. Mr Hatfield (LGS 1980) has finally decided to retire at the end of the school year. He has been an integral part of the rugby club for as long as I have been here. We toured to Sri Lanka and then to Japan as well as numerous trips to Rosslyn Park. Thank you, Mr Hatfield, for all your help and guidance over the years. 

Look after yourselves over the summer, keep fit and we will go again in September.