Head of rugby believes there's still more to come after storming to last four

Hayes School head of rugby Jack Leech believes that there's still more to come from his team after watching them storm to a resounding 50-10 defeat of University College School in the RFU Continental Tyres Bowl.

Flanker Louis Hawkes and fly-half William Lawes were just two of the names to get on the scoresheet for Hayes as they punched their ticket to the semi-finals of the U18 National Bowl in style.

And while his team's assuredness throughout the full 80 minutes was pleasing to see, Leech believes that there's more to come.

“It was a really resounding result, the boys played well, we’ve worked really hard with them recently, particularly when it comes to knockout games,” he said.

“The school’s only gone this far once before and that was in the National Vase it’s quite a big deal for us.

“We worked really hard on relieving pressure and letting other people make mistakes and I thought the boys bought into that really well.

“They scored in a nice try early on with a driving maul and then our ten scored through a gap and we just never looked back from there. We played really well and worked the ball really nicely.

“All credit to UCS, they stuck in the game really well and scored the last two tries. It was a pretty comprehensive victory and the boys are happy but we’re really looking forward to that semi-final.”

The RFU Continental Tyres Cup is foundational to age-grade rugby in England, enabling students from across the country to compete against one another and against the best the game has to offer at schoolboy level. Hayes are in the bowl competition and join Torquay Boys’ Grammar School in the next round, with two more quarter-finals yet to be played.

Leech added: “We had a little bit of disbelief actually. It was sort of one of those games where it all came together but we didn’t really feel like we got out of gear four so what’s really exciting about this team is that there’s still a lot more to come.

“We’re a mixed state comprehensive, we’re in an academy with two other state schools who are both all boys schools and historically their rugby has always been very strong in the area so we’ve worked very hard to build up the rugby program over the past four years here.

“It’s really exciting because we were very good but we know we can be so much better and that message came from the boys after the game as well. There’s quite a maturity in the squad and it’s good to have that in the players and their expectations in themselves.”

The Continental Tyres Schools Cup is an important part of the age-grade rugby landscape in England, with schools’ rugby often where players fall in love with the game for the first time.

For more information visit the Continental Tyres Schools Cup section of the England Rugby Website