Cranleigh School brushed off a nightmare start to their Continental Tyres Schools Cup experience to taste success at Saracens’ StoneX Stadium.

The Surrey-based side arrived just 30 minutes before kicking off due to a combination of bad weather and traffic but showed no sings of any sluggishness against Hymers College.

Cranleigh raced into a 26-7 half-time lead and held their nerve to win 33-10 and round off their first season in the under-15s competition with success in the Plate.

“Our prep didn’t go to plan,” said director of rugby John Andrews. “It was all a bit rushed but to be fair to the boys, the conditions weren’t great, but I thought our skill level in the first half was superb and our accuracy around the breakdown, ball speed and the way we found spaces on the outside was great.

“We spoke before the game about whether our backline could make the difference today and I thought they did.”

Andrews suspects that the rushed warm-up may actually have been a blessing for his under-15s side, who had no time to let a potentially overwhelming occasion get to them.

“They didn’t get a chance to get nervous,” he said. “Our final team run was really sharp and that gave us some confidence.

“Sometimes that last run out isn’t always good but it was for us, and you could see the belief that gave them.”

Nikolaj Fugmann, Sam Godber, captain Alfie Perrett, vice-skipper Kai Barker and Luke Wessels were all on the scoresheet in a dominant victory in north London.

“I thought Hymers really came into it in the second half,” said Andrews. “They had a lot of good runners, got their offloads away and shut us down a bit better on the outside.

“That forced us into a few mistakes. Luke Wessels’ try off the lineout was a really incisive move and a lot of our guys played at the top of their game which is what you want in a cup final.”

Andrews is now targeting loftier heights in seasons to come after Cranleigh’s successful Continental Tyres Schools Cup debut.

“We would have liked to be in the Cup final but when we were knocked out in the first round, winning this was our target,” he added.

“It’s a great experience for the boys and for some of them it will be the pinnacle of their rugby careers.”

The Continental Tyres Schools Cup is an important part of the age-grade rugby landscape in England, with schools’ rugby often where players fall in love with the game for the first time. For more information visit the Continental Tyres Schools Cup section of the England Rugby Website