- Midlands sole survivors set for Sandbach test
- Welbeck banking on Walsh knowledge
Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College from Leicestershire will be flying the flag for the Midlands in the semi-finals of the Daily Mail RBS Schools competitions at Broadstreet RFC near Coventry over the next two weekends.
Welbeck are the only school from the region to have made it through to the last four of the four Daily Mail RBS competitions and will take on Sandbach School from Cheshire in the semi-finals of the Under-18 Vase tournament on Sunday February 28 (11am).
It is the furthest Welbeck have been in a Daily Mail RBS competition and they will be cheered on by around 150 fans from the boarding school for the biggest match in their history.
Welbeck progressed to the sem-finals by the narrowest of margins, edging out Manchester GS on the more tries rule in the semi-finals after the scores were level 10-10 at full time.
Paul Calland, Welbeck’s director of rugby, missed out on a Vase semi-final place during his previous teaching job at Loughborough GS on the same rule after another 10-10 draw with Prince William’s from Oundle so he knows how Manchester’s players and coaches must be feeling.
Calland, a former Great Britain Students rugby league captain, still plays the 13-a-side code as a stand-off with National Conference side Nottingham Outlaws but he is also progressing as a coach in rugby union and is backs coach of the Midlands Under-16 side.
He will also be able to call on the vast experience of Paul Walsh, Welbeck’s director of sport, who went to Daily Mail RBS Cup semi-finals and finals when he was director of rugby of John Cleveland College in Hinckley.
"Paul hasn’t had much to do with the first team this year because he oversees all our sport, but his experience of semi-finals will be useful," Calland said.
"I think he was going to be at Broadstreet anyway as a liaison officer. His knowledge of this sort of occasion will help us in our planning."
Calland has been at Welbeck since the defence college re-located to a purpose-built site near Loughborough from its old base in north Nottinghamshire five years ago.
The college requires students to study for A Levels in maths and physics and to be seeking to take an engineering degree at university to become technical officers in the military.
Students come from far and wide and the current first XV is captained by hooker Joshua Creedey, a former Harlequins academy player.
Welbeck, like Sandbach, boast a big pack and Calland expects a closely-contested semi-final.
"I’ve been trying to get some feedback on them and I gather from a contact at Worksop College, who Sandbach beat in the quarter-finals, that they have a decent pack and they are good around the break-down.
"We've got a solid pack as well and big front row so it should make for a good semi-final."
Coopers Company and Coburn School from Essex will play Norwich School in the other Daily Mail RBS Vase semi-final at Broadstreet on February 28 (1pm).
The Daily Mail RBS Schools Under-18 Cup semi-finals will be staged at Broadstreet on February 27 when RGS Newcastle meet Stowe School from Buckingham at 11am with RGS High Wycombe playing Whitgift School at 1pm.
The following weekend the semi-finals of the Under-15 competitions will be played at Broadstreet.
In the Daily Mail RBS Schools Under-15 Cup it will be Wilmslow HS v QEGS Wakefield (11am) and Wellington College v Hampton School (1pm) on March 6.
In the Vase semi-finals on March 7 it is Lymm HS v Harrogate GS (11am) and Brighton College v St Columba’ College (1pm).