Gone are the days where private schools rule the rugby world. A new rugby force is emerging. That force is Hartpury College.
The latest Hartpury alumni to make an impression at international level are the young back row pair of Seb Negri and Jake Polledri who have been called into Italy’s Six Nations squad by Connor O’Shea. Negri, now with Treviso, has already made his test debut while Polledri’s form for Gloucester this season suggests his first full cap is probably just around the corner.
In recent years Hartpury have also played a big role in the emergence of English internationals Ellis Genge and Jonny May and Welsh duo Ross Moriarty and Alex Cuthbert, while Matt Evans has proved a big success with Canada and a link up with the Georgia Rugby Union saw Mareb Sharidadze spend two enjoyable years learning his trade at the College.
And they aren’t just producing players for other teams. Hartpury College now find themselves in the Championship, one level below the Premiership, not bad for a team that were formed in 2000.
Director of Rugby, John Barnes, isn’t surprised.
We decided to become an Open club to the extent of allowing two or three non-students into our league side. We lose all our players as they go through the years, that’s a fact of life for a College or Uni team, so it’s useful to plug a few holes and keep a bit of continuity on occasions.
Jake was superb for us and soon attracted Gloucester’s attention. The great thing Hartpury was able to offer Jake was regular rugby in National One. During his two seasons with us he played 59 out of 60 games. That’s a lot of miles on the clock.
If he had been full-time at a Premiership club the reality is that he would probably have been flitting around between ‘A’ team matches, loan spells to various club and bench duties for the first team.
Instead he played a stack of rugby, got very fit and was good to go at the start of the season when Gloucester had a few injuries and the call came.
