In-form Sir Thomas Rich’s head to The Crypt School tomorrow hoping to make it a magnificent seven.

The Gloucester’s school’s 1st XV have enjoyed an excellent start to the term, one that has seen them rubbing shoulders with the top teams in the country in the Daily Mail Schools Trophy.

They have won six of their opening seven games and sit second in the league table, which is made up of 164 schools, behind Northampton School for Boys.

The league includes the likes of Cheltenham College, Pates Grammar School, Dean Close and King’s School, Gloucester, and Rhys Williams, director of rugby at Tommies, said: “The boys have done really well. They went on tour to South Africa in the summer and that knitted them together, they gelled really well.”

Tommies have already beaten the likes of Dean Close, Bromsgrove and Marlborough this term and Williams continued: “We’re quite a big boys’ school and we’ve got quite a strong fixture list.

“We want to give everyone the chance to play rugby – under-12Bs, under-13Cs.”

Tommies is an academic grammar school and the boys all have to pass their exams to be accepted.

That does limit their intake, of course, but there are positives for Williams as far as the rugby is concerned.

“The boys are quite bright, they want to work, they want to learn and they pick up things quite quickly,” he said. 

Tommies have traditionally been a very strong rugby school – they finished eighth in the Daily Mail Schools Trophy in 2023 – and it’s been a team effort this term under skipper and fly-half Will Truckel.

“We’ve got a very good pack and some good backs,” added Williams.

“There’s no one superstar, they all work well together, they are good players.”

The likes of Sedbergh and Wellington College also play in the Daily Mail Schools Trophy and Williams added: “It’s an old-fashioned merit table. 

“Some of the schools are playing top-table fixtures every week, they are travelling over to Ireland to play games.

“Not everyone can play everyone but it’s a nice barometer of where you are.”

The Crypt School are mid-table in the Daily Mail Trophy.