World Cup winners inspire Oakham to Continental Tyres Schools Cup win

By Tom Masters, Sportsbeat

World Cup winning duo Martin Johnson and Sir Clive Woodward inspired Oakham School to their first Continental Tyres Schools Cup victory in 20 years at Twickenham.

Oakham’s last title came all the way back in 2003, a year both Johnson and Woodward remember for completely different reasons, but after a rousing speech from England’s World Cup winning captain and coach, the drought was ended, defeating Trinity School, Croydon 31-24 in a classic.

Trailing 19-5 before half-time, Oakham had to dig deep, and scored 26 unanswered points to put themselves into a 31-19 lead, before holding on at the end.

Co-captain Felix Starkey led from the second row to follow in Johnson’s footsteps, and he took on board the words of England’s greatest captain.

“It is unreal to win today, but at the end of the day, as Martin Johnson said to us last night, it is just a rectangular piece of grass,” he said.

“You play the same game wherever you are in any stadium, and I think we stayed true to our game plan throughout the game, and we got the win, which is so special to us.

“I got full on chills from the team talk, we also had a few messages from some OOs, and from Sir Clive Woodward, everyone was cheering us on, and it has just been great.”

Starkey’s fellow co-captain Ben Taylor looked at it from a more emotional angle, with two years of hard work together culminating in a day none of them will ever forget.

He said: “It is massively special to win this at Twickenham today, we have been playing for two years together and this was the last dance as we said.

“We have been waiting for this for ages now and it is great to just get out there and put in the performance and get the result we were looking for.”

As part of Finals Day, girls from Campion School, Northamptonshire, Caroline Chisholm School, Biddenham International School and Sports College and Bedfordshire and Collingwood College, Surrey played their part in XRugby Games on the pitch as part of the Rugby World Cup 2025 Impact Programme, showcasing the progress of girl’s school rugby.

Pete Robb, Marketing Director for Continental Tyres said: “We are proud to be supporting the growth of grassroots rugby with our title sponsorship of the Continental Tyres Schools Cup.

“For school teams to come together at the iconic Twickenham Stadium to play for the coveted Continental Tyres Schools Cup trophy will no doubt whet the appetite of those competing, increase their ambitions for a career in rugby and help to develop the next generation of rugby players.”

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 on how to get involved with Age-Grade rugby visit www.englandrugby.com/agegraderugby Your local rugby club would also love to see you! Findrugby.com