QEGS' consistency up with the country's finest

Brendan Gallagher continues his series looking at rugby’s great schools

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ALWAYS the bridesmaid, never the bride. Well except for one occasion. QEGS Wakefield’s modern history by almost all criteria has been a resounding success with no fewer than nine appearances in national finals at one level or another but, alas, just one of those gala occasions have resulted in a win and the lifting of silverware.

Their consistency, however, has been admirable and impressive. In the first decade of the NatWest U18 Cup, QEGS excelled themselves in reaching three finals – 1995, 1996 and 2000 – and on all three occasions they were unfortunate enough to lock horns with a totally dominant Colston’s side who were on a run of six consecutive titles.

QEGS failed to get on the scoreboard in all three games – losing 23-0, 20-0 and 33-0 – but, given the carnage Coslton’s were inflicting on all-comers around the circuit, they were actually very competitive performances. Damage limitation was pretty much the best you could aim for against that Colston’s side.

The noughties were relatively quiet but QEGS began to flex their muscles again in 2010 when they reached the NatWest quarter-finals and lost only one regular-season game, which they replicated exactly the following season.

QEGS were beginning to stir and evidence of that came further down the school in 2013. The U15s reached their Cup final when they lost to Warwick School, the start of one of the greatest modern-day rivalries in schools sport, let alone schools rugby.

The following year Warwick again got the better of their Yorkshire opponents in the U15 final and remarkably the two teams met for a third successive final in 2015 with QEGS this time finally lifting the trophy.