England squad meet St Albans rugby players at Twickenham

RUGBY players representing a St Albans secondary school were excited about playing the curtain raiser ahead of the recent England V South Africa match.

Beaumont School’s Under-15 rugby squad were at Twickenham last weekend, where they played against St Mary’s Catholic School to help showcase the RFU’s new national girls’ U15 schools’ competition.

The Beaumont girls also formed a guard of honour for the international teams, and sang the National Anthem before sitting on front row seats to watch the match, which South Africa narrowly won 16-15 on Saturday November 24.

The team won the opportunity to visit the home of English rugby after being crowned county champions in October.

Players are a combination of Year 9 and 10 pupils, and includes most of the U13 squad - South of England champions last season.

As a result of the girls’ success a number of them were invited to train with the Herts county side, and Tian Figg has gone on to represent the county twice at No 8.

One of the players, Chloe Wallis, said: “I was so proud when I stood on the Twickenham pitch; I will never forget it.”

Maggie Alphonsi, a well-known England Women’s rugby player, said: “Many girls have the ability to play at a higher level and the key is to let them know what opportunities are available and to help them progress.”

England face world champions, the All Blacks, tomorrow (Saturday) at Twickenham.

Kick-off is at 2.30pm.