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Two tries from prolific centre Matt Williams powered Wellington to a victory over arch-rivals Tonbridge which clinched the Daily Mail Schools Trophy.
A 22-18 win capped Wellington’s season which has featured some brilliant back play led by Williams, a member of the England Under 17 squad, who contributed 17 tries to be the school’s top scorer.
Williams has been part of a squad who have won 11 out of 13 matches in which the only blemishes were a defeat against Sedbergh and a draw at home to Dulwich.
A tough fixture list – including the majority of the top rugby-playing schools in the country – proved no burden and Wellington managed to fend off Sedbergh, Kirkham and Monmouth at the top of this merit table-based competition organised by schoolsrugby.co.uk over the autumn term.
Nearly 100 schools entered for a second season following the inaugural success of Woodhouse Grove, the Bradford school, last December.
Grove, who put together an unbeaten run of games last season, had to rebuild this campaign while Wellington, who had suffered a number of injuries in 2013, produced sustained excellence and scored 476 points in all.
Coach Kevin Brennan rates Wellington’s win over Millfield, in which Williams scored three tries, as about the best performance.
‘There’s a terrific sense of achievement among the squad because we set out to play well and to push ourselves,’ he said.
‘The most pleasing aspect were the wins on the Saturdays after two very hard midweek games against Millfield and Sedbergh.
‘We managed to back up our performances immediately after those very testing games. After we beat Millfield at Ilffley Road, we went on the next weekend to beat Eton and after losing to Sedbergh we then beat Epsom College.’
Williams, a member of the London Irish academy, will be chasing England honours after Christmas alongside five other Wellington players in flanker Jack Ingall, full-back Tom Parton, centre Conor Dolan, wing Sam Aspland-Robinson and scrum-half Rory Brand.
If the backs enjoyed the glory, there were some heroes among the hard working forwards in a goal-kicking captain Will Wilson and lock Josh Basham, a fifth former, who played every minute of every match.
Wellington played their best rugby on the dry pitches of the autumn to overhaul to early Trophy leaders in Grammar School At Leeds.
But a narrow defeat to Sedbergh, in a mid-week game at Broadstreet, saw the Cumbrians snatch the leadership until they were toppled by unbeaten Kirkham.
That defeat gave Wellington the opportunity to retake the lead following their win at Epsom College backed up by wins over Cranleigh and Tonbridge to seal the title.
Sedbergh, who also beat Millfield, finished second while Kirkham and Monmouth both finished unbeaten in third and fourth places.
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