Tipuric and Baker head back to school

Justin Tipuric and Dan Baker recently took time out from training to visit their old school, Cwmtawe Community School, to present them with their WRU School of Rugby award.

 

The school has produced numerous Welsh internationals including former Wales centre Bleddyn Bowen, and Wales and Lions scrum half Robert Jones,  with Tipuric and more recently, Baker who was capped on the summer tour to Japan, joining an impressive list.

Cwmtawe is one of 22 schools throughout Wales to be recognised for their commitment to developing and promoting rugby union within the school. They run rugby teams throughout the year groups with teachers from the PE and other departments giving of their time and energy to ensure good quality rugby coaching.

The pair took part in a question and answer session with school rugby players during which the Lions flanker revealed that Francois Louw, the South  African flanker, was one of the best players he has directly come up against, and that former England World Cup winner Richard Hill was the player he most admired as a youngster. He also revealed that some of the knock backs he received growing up are what spurred him on to become the player he is today.

"I was told I was too small and too slow, which just made me work 10 times as hard to prove people wrong,” said Tipuric, who came through the ranks at Trebanos RFC and now helps coach the first team at the club.

 

PHOTO: Justin Tipuric, Dan Baker and WRU Regional Development Manager for the Ospreys region, Ben Rose, (right) present Cwmtawe Community School head teacher Alan Jones with a WRU School of Rugby award