Rugby Coaches help trio get county call-up The coaching alliance between King Edward and Queen Mary School and Fylde RFC helped three rugby players gain Lancashire call-ups. Tom Higham, Pearse Carson and Alexander McWilliam-Grey have enjoyed additional coaching at the Lytham school by Fylde’s free-scoring winger Oliver Brennand and director of rugby Matt Emerson. Tom has been selected for the Red Rose under-14s and his two schoolmates made their under-15 debuts in the 20-8 defeat by Cardiff Schools at the Woodlands. McWilliam-Grey played at flanker and fly-half Carson came on as a replacement. Higham said: “Mr Emerson’s skills coaching and Ollie’s exciting running rugby have really made me a better technical player.” Scorps turn up the heat Blackpool Scorpions (U15) RL 14 Waterhead 1 Cold hands led to early mistakes on a bitter day, though Adam Butcher tackled well and Zach Ward ran strongly. Players’ man of the match Matty Egan led by example and Liam Wilkinson also impressed for Scorpions. Danny Percival had a try ruled out as a Waterhead drop goal provided the only point of the first half. Scorpions increased the intensity after the break and their Secret Weapon – as the Waterhead coach dubbed him – Omar Frederick drove through for the first try. Anthony Livingstone was ruled to have put a foot in touch in the act of scoring but he was not to be denied a second time as he dived over. With the Scorpions pack now well on top, full-back Joe Bullock scored the final try, which Livingstone converted. Scorpions team: Joe Bullock, Adam Butcher, Christian Cornall, Zach Ward, Matt Hulme, Liam Wilkinson, Oliver Jordan, John Beattie, Matty Egan, Tom Wainwright, Omar Frederick, Josh Shearman, Anthony Livingstone, Matty Cotton, Joe Williams, Taylor Ramsden, Danny Percival. Rochdale 7 Fleetwood RU (U14s) 24 Fleetwood got back to winning ways after a slow start with two tries from captain Jordan Leighton. The visiting pack got on top midway through the first half and Leighton opened the scoring from Xavier Birchkard’s blindside pass. James Wilson then converted his own solo try to make it 12-0 at half-time. Replacement Jacob Carr produced his best performance of the season, switching from flanker to the wing and sending Leighton in for his second try. Rochdale reduced the deficit to 17-7 with a try out wide but Ashley Seddon sealed the win by finishing off a breathtaking passing move. Wilson added his second goal and hooker Dominic Kelly was named man of the match. Sean converts to rowing and takes gold DUAL sportsman Sean Dickinson continues to cut a dashing figure at rugby and indoor rowing. Direct from skippering his school King Edward’s and Queen Mary’s to a hard-fought victory at Lytham, prop Dickinson picked up the oars to land first place at Manchester’s Sports City Stadium, in the English Open championships. This followed a gold medal at the Welsh championships and the Scottish Open, besides clinching a silver in France. In Manchester, Sean stormed to victory in the junior 18 category by covering the 2,000m in 6mins 25.9secs. This was despite bearing the stud marks, bruises, aches and pains from leading KEQM to a 31-5 win over Ormskirk GS. His big race went entirely to plan. A powerful start surged him into an early lead with 500me completed in only 1min, 33secs and the rest of the field was unable to make up ground. Sean said: “After narrowly missing out on the gold medal in Paris, I was determined to win and become English champion. The title feels great. “Complete rest is the ideal preparation the day before such a significant race, but it was the school’s last home game of the season and of my time at King Edward's, so I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” Wayne Howard, his stepfather and coach, said: “Sean continues to train hard, regularly starting his school day with a strong 6,000m training row before breakfast and he’s back on the rowing machine when he gets home from rugby training. “Sean was clearly jaded after the rugby match but rowed himself to a standstill and collapsed off his machine at the end. He had nothing left.” - Sean convinced three of his rugby team-mates to join him in Edinburgh for the Scottish Open. Robert Whittam, James Chester, Charles Blagbrough and Sean formed a team for the junior sprint relay and won silver. Whittam also finished third in the individual event, behind gold medallist Sean. Email us and tell us about your stories!