Harps & The Rose

The Six Nations rugby tournament kicks offthis month with an England team in near-unbeatable form. At the core of the men’s team is a trio of former Harpenden players, while fly-half in the women’s national squad is also an ex-Harp. And there’s more in the wings. Neil Metcalfe looks at how this small club is producing world-beaters.

- Neil Metcalfe

ASK rugby fans to name a hotbed of the sport and they would probably say New Zealand or South Africa. Ask them to name somewhere in this country and you might hear them mention Leicester or the south west. It’s unlikely they’ll say Harpenden. And yet the town, its schools and Harpenden RFC are responsible for supplying a solid stream of Rugby Union talent to the international stage.

The national squad’s success last year, when the team won all 13 games played, including beating the Wallabies three times on a tour of Australia, systematically taking apart South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and Australia in the autumn internationals and claiming the Six Nations grand slam, was down in no small part to the trio of Owen Farrell, George Ford and Maro Itoje, all of whom went to St George’s School in Harpenden as well as turning out for the town’s Redbourn Lane club.

Look beyond the senior squad and you’ll find other Harpenden players who have found international recognition too. Jack Singleton was a member of the victorious England side that won the U20 Rugby World Championship in Manchester last summer. Another former Harp, Ralph Adams-Hale, just missed out on that squad but is in line to be a big part of the defence in Georgia in July.

And it’s not just the men. Sarah McKenna, a product of Roundwood Park School and Grove Junior School both in Harpenden and a youth player for the town club where her dad coached the minis, was part of the England women’s sevens squad last year. The 27-year-old from Welwyn is hoping to be included in the 15-a side team during the Six Nations this month.

So what makes this west Herts club so popular and so successful? Harpenden RFU president Peter Danby is matter-of-fact.

‘I think we are seen as a genuine grassroots club that looks after the players well and when people move into the area that is something that attracts them.