Although the School rugby season is over, a number of players have been representing their clubs, county and academics over the last couple of months, and Oscar Beard, Finn Brown and Will Trenholm have been selected for the South of England Under-17 squad later this month.
Trenholm was also selected for the England Under-18 squad (even though he is still U-17). Hayden Hyde, who was also picked by England, has decided to remain with Ireland and was in their Under-19 team who played against Australia in December. Will, Oscar, Hayden, Josh Dodson, David Ofori and Sam Davies all represented Harlequins U18 in their academy fixtures this season.
Alongside this, the boys have followed with great interest and have been following the example set by two recent Old Cranleighans who have gone on to represent Ireland at full senior level and England Sevens.
Sam Arnold (Munster) played for Ireland against the USA in November – the second OC to play for the country after Clive Wallis in 1925.
Jamie Barden, who only left the school last summer, is currently playing for the full England sevens team in their world series leg in Las Vegas. Jamie captained last year’s XV’s and 7’s side and was one of the three boys to sign professional contracts in the summer. He was selected as a ‘young gun’ by the Rugby Paper in 2017 when he helped the School successfully defend their Rosslyn Park Sevens title.