A Cheltenham College student, Jack Clement, has been selected for the England Under-17 rugby squad.

Jack started playing for the Gloucester Academy only five months ago after a good run of games in the first three school fixtures earned him a trial.

He initially started with the Gloucester Under-17s, but after five weeks of training, he impressed the coaches enough to be promoted to the under-18 squad.

A mere two weeks later, Jack was making his academy league debut from the bench against Saracens Under-18s at Allianz Park!

He has been in the starting squad for a number of games and the team have gone on to win six out of six and progress into the final against Leicester on Sunday 11th March at Allianz Park.

A delighted Jack said: “I have recently been playing back row for Gloucester in our academy league, although I started the season at second row where I played all our school matches.”

So, what does he enjoy about rugby?

“I enjoy both the physical aspect of the game as well as the skill aspect,” he said. “I feel it is the combination of these two which makes it unique to any other sport in the world and tests your ability to perform these skills in testing environments.”

And he’s clearly passed all the tests with flying colours.

“I have been playing for Gloucester Under-18s and have recently earned a place in the England Under-17 training camp on the back of my performances for Gloucester,” Jack added.

“That was a great opportunity for me to see what competition I face nationally. It also gave me helpful feedback for my aspirations going forward.

“I have been playing the game since I was 12 and had only started playing academy rugby five months ago after Mr Morgan got me a trial at Gloucester.”

So how far does he want to go in the game?

“For now, I am taking each stage in my rugby career as it comes,” said Jack. “It has all happened very quickly for me compared to other boys at my level, so I understand that anything could be around the corner.

“However, I would love to progress my game further and eventually one day run out at Kingsholm in the cherry and white shirt of Gloucester.”

Cheltenham College has 20 players involved with the under-14s, 15s, 16s and 18s teams at Gloucester, including the Gloucester Academy captain, Tom Stanton. Tom and College pupil Cameron Terry both represented the senior Gloucester A team this season and Tom scored in the game against the Harlequins with his second touch of the ball.

Tom can play centre, full-back or on the wing and has been playing age grade rugby since he was 13. His ambition is to become a professional rugby player with Gloucester.