Celebrating endeavour, rewarding success

QE’s annual Rugby Dinner brought together players from throughout the School who share a love of the game. With awards galore, the evening was a celebration of the 2024-2025 season so far, which has already seen more than 400 boys playing for QE teams.

Staff and students reflected on the benefits of playing the game. Research into the impact of rugby in schools found 63% of participants reported improved leadership skills, 69% were more confident, with positive outcomes for improving mood (57%) and self-esteem (58%), as well as supporting over 70% to be more physically active.

In a positive season thus far, across the 123 fixtures played by the date of the dinner, QE teams had won 64, drawn 5 and lost 54, with plenty learned in victory and defeat.

There was a look forward to coming highlights – including next month’s QE Rugby Sevens, this summer’s senior rugby and cricket tour to Sri Lanka, and next year’s rugby tour to Holland for Years 9 & 10.

And the diners heard from Old Elizabethan guest speaker Nabil Haque (OE 2010–2017), a former First XV captain, who went on to play university rugby at Cambridge, where he took a double-first degree with distinction in Architecture. He subsequently went on to a two-year scholarship at Yale. He flew in to QE from Berlin, where he is now working as an architect.

Director of Sport Jonathan Hart said: “Our second annual Rugby Dinner was an excellent occasion, giving us the opportunity to reward success and celebrate endeavour among those committed to the game.”

During the evening, both Nabil and QE’s current Head of Rugby, Oliver Di-Lieto, paid tribute to the School’s former Head of Rugby, James Clarke, who died in January in Bermuda, where he was working for the Bermuda Rugby Football Union.

Nabil played predominantly for the second team at Cambridge (known as the LX Club). He paid tribute to all that he had learned about rugby at QE, stating that not only was it fulfilling athletically, but also came with social perks, such as giving him entry to certain clubs! He had relished the chance to play at a high level, including the opportunity to play alongside those in the Blues squad who had been international players, but stated that, in fact, his best memories of the sport were from QE, such as lining up with his teammates to defy the odds against physically bigger players from schools with better financial resources.

Rugby, he said, had shaped him as a person: he encouraged all those at the dinner to embrace its values and the opportunities it presents.

The dinner featured awards for players in Years 7–11 and for the Second XV and First XV, including a Most Improved Player, Player of the Season and a Players’ Player (voted by the boys), with the latter awarded both to an A team and a B team player in the first five years.

There were Senior Colours for 14 pupils, while a highlight of the evening was the naming of the QE Rugby Team of the Year – a staff selection of boys from across the year groups judged to be the best in their position. The line-up featured eight starting forwards, seven backs and another eight replacements.

The chosen line-up was:

1. Marcus Ingal (U13)
2. Krutharth Behera (1st XV)
3. Sachin Saddi (U13)
4. David Hirtopanu (1st XV)
5. Niketh Putta (U14)
6. Thinuka Kapugama (U15)
7. Aashir Irfan (U16)
8. Junu Park (U14)
9. Shradan Venkatesan (U12)
10. Lakshmi Chirumamilla (U15)
11. Yashwant Sunkara (U16)
12. Jake Owens (1st XV)
13. Darsh Singh (U12)
14. Ubayd Uddin (1st XV)
15. Ryan Goyal (U14)
16. Tanush Madadi (U15)
17. Rohan Mukherjee (U13)
18. Kyan Syed (U16)
19. Saami Mansur (U13)
20. Kevin Gajera (U14)
21. Roshan Patel (U15)
22. Thomas Young (U16)
23. Yashinth Sivananthan (U16)

Three Year 12 Sports Leaders were singled out for special mention: Aadam Aslam, Zain Ahmed and Hashim Khan have been coaching Year 7 boys on Friday afternoons as well as helping the PE department by managing Year 7 teams in rugby fixtures. Encouraging others at the dinner to get involved in helping younger boys, Mr Di-Lieto said: “These three have given a lot to QE rugby this year. They themselves have developed skills such as leadership and communication, but the boys they have coached have learnt even more.”

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