Jerry Page's "History of Rugby" is a beautifully-written and hugely-perceptive and informative homage to the school in general and of course to rugBY in particular.

As to Jerry's question WHY was WHS so good at rubgy? I throw this into the pot for stirring:

1) Taffy knew his stuff backwards of course, and loved the game. Without love, little is possible. And knowing his game meant we practised the basics properly: getting the ball out to the wing as fast as possible; standing deep, running onto the ball, running straight and hard, drawing the tackle and handing off the ball, the dummy, the sidestep, the ploy from the back of the scrum, falling on the ball, tackling properly, the grubber-kick, scrummagging low etc etc etc. We actually practised those things, and when we played a match it was often obvious that though the opponents may have had individual skill, spirit and courage, they often weren't as familiar with and/or as good at the basics.

2) I read somewhere that Taffy had been a seaman on convoys to Russia during the war, but I haven't been able to verify that or get any details. Masters were very reticent about their war exploits. I also believe that Ben Turner was a fighter pilot and that Stretch was a tank-commander in Africa. I really regret how silly it was not to question the old guys more about it, but I guess they were both modest and wanted to put it all behind them. The point being, that someone who had been on Russian convoys is not going to pussy-foot around going through the motions and being soft on lippy or idle recruits, but is going to expect and demand toughness from his charges in honour of the sacrifice his comrades made to preserve our freedom.

3) Taffy also epitomised something dear to my heart, and which he among others was responsible for giving me: the idea that if you're going to do something, do it properly. There was nothing half-hearted or incomplete about rugby at school; it was taken and practised with great seriousness - as in other aspects of school life of course.

4) The school being young, there was a conscious and/or unconscious drive to make its mark somehow, to prove itself. The same thing could be seen on the arts and music side. Merlin Channon, Barry Salmon, Leslie Johnstone, Patrick Hutton, Derek Thornbery and all the others did nothing half-heartedly just to pass the time of day.

5) Being a boarding-school meant we were in situ all the time and could devote more time to perfecting whatever took our interest. That was important. And in my day we had TWO rugby afternoons midweek AND a Saturday game. I remember that we even went quite often down to Orwell Side on Sundays and practised "the kicking game". All together, that was a LOT of practice.

6) Success breeds success. By luck or judgement, there were some exceptionally-talented boys in the early years who got the school off to an amazing start in scholarship, sport and the arts. By 1957/1958 the standard was already high, and the 1st XV of that year in particular was awesome. Boys following later had something to live up to.

7) We had magnificent facilities and in particular Church Field. It kind of inspired the same level of devotion to rugby as that to God that the nearby church did! When you went up to Church Field you felt you were going somewhere really special.

8) I happen to think that we had four exceptional headmasters who gave Taffy and others a lot of encouragement. To do your best in any area of life you really need that from those in authority.

Anything I forgot!!!