Old Cottesmorian Rugby Success

Luke Wallace (Cottesmore 1st XV 2002/2003) has been part of the Harlequins squad since leaving senior school. However, his first Premiership start was against Northampton just over a month ago when he won man of the match. He repeated this feat against Gloucester winning his second consecutive man of the match award.

An extract from a Telegraph article this weekend:

Harlequins put the fun back into English rugby

...Much credit also goes to 21-year-old open-side flanker Luke Wallace, who spent last season on loan with Esher in the Championship. Wallace would have continued the arrangement this year but for an injury to Will Skinner, which gave him an early look-in against Northampton, and he promptly won the man-of-the-match award for his feverish work-rate and command of the breakdown.

Nick Easter, who has been following events on his laptop from New Zealand, declared himself a fan this week. “Luke is aggressive over the ball, a good ball-carrier and a line-out option as well,” he said of Wallace, who at 6ft 1in and 15 stone has a similar squat build to more celebrated open-side “groundhogs” like David Pocock and Heinrich Brussow.

O’Shea concurs, seeing Wallace as part of a special group of players who have emerged together from the Harlequins Academy. “In our starting 15 this weekend, nine or 10 will have come up through the club’s ranks,” he said.

“When you grow up together as friends you pull together, which is why the most successful sides are homegrown.

“I can’t take any credit for developing these guys, because it takes a long time to set up a pipeline. But it is my job to help fulfill the potential of what is an incredibly exciting group of players. What I love about this team is that the players have committed to this club for a long time and I want to do the same.”  Click here to read the full article

Click here to watch an interview with Luke from earlier in the season

Click here to check out Luke's stats on ESPN