Cranleigh rugby continues to make its mark

Greg Bateman in action for Leicester against Gloucester at Kingsholm Stadium, January 30, 2016
Greg Bateman in action for Leicester against Gloucester in January

Current and former Cranleighans continue to make an impression in the rugby world.

Loosehead prop Will Collier has been an ever-present at Harlequins this season and has now clocked up 80 appearances for the club since his debut in 2010.  He came through the Quins Academy and represented England at Under-16 and Under-18 levels before being part of the Under-20 side which reached the IRN Junior World Cup final in 2011.  He was named in the England Saxons squad in 2013-14 and played for an England XV against the Barbarians in May 2014 and was on standby for the subsequent England tour to New Zealand.

Winger Seb Stegmann was another who came through the Quins Academy, making 35 appearances for the club between 2007 and 2013. He then joined London Welsh, helping them to promotion before enduring their wretched Premiership campaign in 2014-15.  At the end of the season he moved to Yorkshire Carnegie  in the RFU Championship.

Wing Sam Smith, whose father played nine times for England in the 1980s, was ye another to emerge from the Quins Academy,  playing for the senior side between 2009 and 2014 before moving to Worcester Warriors, helping them to promotion into the Premiership in his first season.  He has just joined London Scottish on loan until the end of the current campaign.

Hooker Greg Bateman also went through the Quins Academy but played his club rugby for Dorking (and winning England Under-18 caps) before joining London Welsh in 2012, playing regularly for them for two seasons before switching to Exeter Chiefs on a two-year deal. Frustrated by a lack of game time, he joined Leicester Tigers in the summer of 2015.

Scum-half Henry Taylor left the Quins Academy to study at Loughborough but played so well for the university that he was drafted into the England Under-20 Six Nations squad in 2014 and was a member of the England side that successfully defended their IRB Junior World Championship crown that summer.  He currently has a first-team contract at Saracens.

Henry Taylor of England makes a break during the RBS U20 Six Nations match at Franklin's Gardens on February 22, 2014 in Northampton, England
Henry Taylor makes a break for England during the Under-20 Six Nations against Ireland in 2014

Further afield, centre Sam Arnold made his debut for Ulster aged 18 and was an ever present in the Ireland Under-20 side in 2014-15.  He has signed to play for Munster in 2016-17.    Flanker Tanerau Latimer has been playing in the southern hemisphere for a decade, winning five New Zealand caps in 2009 when Richie McCaw was sidelined.  After seven years with the Crusaders he spent a season in Japan, returning to the Blues in 2016.  Luke Braid, another flanker, played  for the Chiefs and the Blues in New Zealand before signing for Bordeaux in 2015-16.

Meanwhile, Harry Lamont won his fourth Blue for Oxford in December, captaining them to a victory although his game lasted only a few minutes after he sustained an injury in his first tackle.  Also in the Dark Blues side was Tom Stileman.  In 2013 Will Yeeles won a Blue for Cambridge.

Charlie Piper is contracted to Harlequins, prop Harry Elrington has been signed by London Irish, while James Cordy-Reddon is contracted to the England Sevens squad.

With several of the most recent Cranleigh XV also showing great promise –  Ed Russell, Tom Nicole, Jack Johnson and Dino Lamb-Cona all playing for the Quins Academy, and Lamb-Cona being picked for the England Under-18 squad –  the future looks to be just as exciting.