Bath Rugby U18s · Millfield 1st XV
Hooker
Bath Rugby U18s — NextGen Series
Millfield School — 1st XV, Vice Captain
Club Captain — 2025–26
Front row. Lineout throwing and scrum detail.
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Bath Rugby U18s squad portraits — 23 Oct 2025. The images used on academy team sheets through the season.
The player
Playing at hooker
I played hooker, which meant the lineout throw, the scrum detail and the calls that went with them. It is a technical position and the errors are quite public.
I played for Millfield’s 1st XV throughout my time at school and captained a number of fixtures, and was appointed Club Captain. I was in the Bath Rugby U18s NextGen squad, having played Bath Academy at U17s and U16s before that. Training at The Rec alongside the academy coaches raised the standard I was measuring myself against.
01 / Match log
Bath U18s — NextGen Series
Each fixture opens to show its photographs. Rounds I have no photography from are listed as pending.
Round 1 Saracens U18s Away · 16 Aug 2025 6 photos
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Photography by Bath Rugby, NextGen Series Round 1.
Round 2 Harlequins U18s Home · The Rec 6 photos
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Photography by Bath Rugby, NextGen Series Round 2.
Millfield School
School fixtures. I am still gathering photographs from these.
02 / Set piece
Lineout work with Tom Dunn
Nine frames from the clinic. Click any to open full size.
Tom Dunn — hooker clinic
One-to-one lineout throwing with Tom Dunn, Bath Rugby’s first-choice hooker. We worked on accuracy at pace, varying the trajectory for front and back ball, and timing the call.
The correction that stuck was to stop aiming at the jumper and aim instead at where he will be at the top of the lift. It made a noticeable difference to my throwing.
03 / Development
Training
Speed and strength work through the off-season, done to support the rugby rather than for its own sake.
SpeedWorks
A rugby-specific acceleration camp: first-step power, sprint mechanics, and applying it to the movements you actually use in a game — short re-accelerations off a ruck rather than long running.
For a front-rower the useful gain is getting to the breakdown a bit quicker, not top speed.
Strength & conditioning
Strength work through the year, organised around the rugby calendar. Pre-season blocks built maximum strength and the in-season work shifted to maintaining power and speed.
Hooker asks for scrummaging, lineout athleticism and carrying in contact, so the gym work had to cover all three.
04 / Injuries
Two injuries, back to back
Included because they were a large part of my last two seasons.
Elevate Rehab
A hamstring tendinopathy kept me out for three months across the Bath Rugby pre-season, which was a bad part of the calendar to miss.
I then tore the labrum in my shoulder, which ended my Bath Academy league season after four matches. I did start every match I was available for, which was some consolation.
Elevate Rehab handled both returns, and were sensible about load management rather than rushing me back to a date.