Richard Hale School’s emotional rugby coach Brett McNamee dubbed his side’s Continental Tyres Schools Cup Bowl success ‘last dance complete.’
McNamee has overseen his victorious under-18s side since they joined the Hertford-based school and compared their last bid to glory to Michael Jordan’s Last Dance.
The Netflix documentary recounting the basketball legend’s final season with the Chicago Bulls ended in style and so too did Richard Hale’s Cup run after a 26-17 victory over Richard Huish College.
“It gets me a bit emotional because some of these boys I've had since year seven,” said McNamee.
“We went through Covid, we just had this story about the Last Dance. We said make this your Last Dance and they’ve done that.
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“They will take this day with them to the grave. Club rugby seasons just merge into one but coming here with their school mates, they’ll remember this forever.
“We’re a school, we’re not a college and we have that emotional connection as a group. We started together in and Covid and this is the end of the road.
“The boys put an outstanding shift in and I’m really proud of their performance.”
Richard Hale showed their intention early on at Saracens’ StoneX Stadium, striking early through full-back Morgan Jackson.
Taunton-based Richard Huish responded with a try but two further scores before the break from Joe Saunders and Peter Holmes put McNamee’s side in total control.
Richard Hale continued to dominate after the break and crossed for a fourth time as replacement Iwan Lewis broke two tackles to score under the sticks.
Their West Country opponents dug deep to score two more tries but McNamee believes the damage had already been done.
“That try just before half time, you look at big moments and momentum and for us to go in 21-7 up at half time, we created a buffer and that made them chase the game which led them to force it,” McNamee added.
“They were dangerous but I said to the boys, recognise momentum. Throughout the game we had that momentum and adapted accordingly.”
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
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