Cranleigh have made a confident start in the Daily Mail Schools Trophy helped by a visit from the Tongan World Cup squad.

The Tongans spent two weeks at their Surrey base and helped out in training sessions for Cranleigh and other local schools.

Now Cranleigh are becoming a team to be reckoned with in the Trophy which is contested by over 100 schools during the autumn term on a merit table basis run by schoolsrugby.co.uk

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Cranleigh, following an opening 45-12 win over St John's of Leatherhead, grabbed the attention by posting a first win in a decade away to Surrey rivals Epsom College.

An impressive 37-20 win continued the momentum which began last March when Cranleigh won the plate event at the Rosslyn Park Sevens.

'That success at Rosslyn Park has really given the team great belief and it's continued in this first few weeks of the new season,' Andy Houston, the director of rugby, said.

Cranleigh's win at Epsom came after they finished two men down following late sin bin offences, but they held on to a lead built through tries by wing Richard Eamey, George MacDonald, captain Ben Sackey, Omari Stafford-Davies and Tom Nicole.

Houston is proud of Cranleigh's record of having 10 players move into professional rugby in recent years led by centre Sam Arnold.

The former captain is now making a name for himself at Ulster having opted to pursue his Irish qualifications.

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Cranleigh host Skinner's next Saturday (October 3) before a trip to Tonbridge followed by an invite to the St Joseph's October festival.

Sedbergh are the early Trophy pacesetters after winning three games so far very impressively clocking up 129 points in the process.

The latest was a 70-14 triumph over RGS Newcastle featuring two tries apiece from wing Will Lewin and fly half Ali Crossdale.

Durham, who needed a late penalty to beat Newcastle RGS last week, maintained an unbeaten start in three games by beating Grammar School of Leeds, 39-12, while Hampton and Reigate GS have also recorded three wins out of three so far.

Champions Wellington, who were beaten 19-10 by Dulwich last week, overcame Tonbridge 19-10. A hard fixture list now brings tough home games against Whitgift and Millfield.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3247654/Tonga-s-Rugby-World-Cup-team-boost-Cranleigh-Daily-Mail-Schools-Trophy.html#ixzz3mfmspWA7
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