Dulwich College, home of arguably the most famous English School team ever, the Invincibles. During that first term of the 1997-98 season, no one remotely came close to Andrew Sheridan, David Flatman and company. Played 15, won 15, 826 points scored, 47 points conceded for an average weekly rout of 55-3.
Unfortunately, this great side was never given the opportunity to get their hands on the biggest School trophy around, the U18s Daily Mail Cup. At that time, Dulwich only entered the U15s competition, which they won in 1995, but they had to watch Colston's lift the U18s Cup for six consecutive years between 1995 and 2000.
For the next 15 years, despite boasting the likes of Northampton's Tom Mercey or Saracens' Will Fraser in their ranks, they struggled to replicate that success but, on April 4, 2012, they were back on the map.
Under the tutelage of former 1st XV captain Sam Howard, the South London School finally decided to emulate the football, cricket and hockey sides in taking part in national U18s competition and, as they say, the rest is history, literally.
Dulwich are yet to be beaten in 24 games having lifted the Cup in 2012 and 2013 and will turn up at Twickenham next Saturday with the treble in mind. The 2013 crop even emulated the class of 1997 by going undefeated in the league ending the year with a record of 18 win and a draw in their 19 games.
“It's already an unbelievable achievement. We joined the tournament only three seasons ago and we never thought we'd be that successful,” Howard told The Rugby Paper. “We were already in the football, cricket and hockey U18s national competitions so we thought we should do it for rugby as well but being sat here being one game away from winning three year in a row is unreal.
“I can't see any school coming anywhere near Colston's record though. Our last four games in 2012 were won by less than a score and last week's semi-final was very close too. There are far too many schools around.”
In the semi-finals, Dulwich faced RGS High Wycombe in what promised to be a fierce encounter between two of the favourites. The champions took a 7-3 lead early in the second half thanks to a penalty try but their discipline was about to drastically slow them down. Receiving four yellow and a red card, they spent the last 25 minutes of the game with a one-man deficit.
But they were not ready to give up the trophy they made theirs for the past two years and managed to hold RGS out to book their place in the final yet again. As Howard puts it, his side had no right to win but their passion for the School shone through in the end.
“The boys have an unbelievable passion for this school. They are obsessed, it's almost a bit weird but it shows in some of the games. We had no right to win against RGS but they refused to lose,” he said.
“I had never seen so much raw emotion on a rugby pitch. I think they started to feel the pressure of the previous two years being so close from returning to Twickenham. Most of the boys who played in the past two years were at the semi-finals and more will comeback for the final which just shows what this team means to them.
“We've developed an ethos and what we are as a team over the past few years. It's not about winning at all cost. We want to win and we believe we will win but if you lose then so be it. Sometimes you learn more by losing than winning everything. We're not afraid of losing but we'll do our outmost to make sure we don't.”
One of the most emotional players after the draining contest at Allianz Park was Felix Maddison. The Saracens No.8 has been Dulwich stand out player this year and the obvious choice for Howard when picking his captain at the start of the season.
Compared by Howard to World Cup winning flanker Richard Hill, Maddison is not from the flashy type of players but he rarely puts a foot wrong and often leaves the pitch battered having nothing left in the tank.
Maddison could have been one of four players with Josh Ibuanopke, John Winter and Joe Charnley to go for the treble on Saturday but he missed out on the 2012 triumph with the Unbreakable because, well, he was breakable. A broken ankle meant he missed out on the final which added to his woes from the U15s quarter-finals the previous year where they went out on away tries against Whitgift.
Now driven by his personal deceptions and the fear of being the first Dulwich team to lose a Cup game, the youngster is keen to send his school at the top of Twitter's trending list.
“We don't want to be the first team from Dulwich to lose a game in this competition. Winning is everything now. Captaining Dulwich is a massive honour for me and leading the side out at Twickenham will be amazing. I'm so excited,” he said.
“Missing out on the first final was very painful at the time but it drove me to succeed. We got to the U15s quarter-finals but drew the game at home and went out on tries scored so it made winning last year so much sweeter.
“To have our names engrained next to the Invincibles is amazing and that's the history we have to carry when playing for Dulwich. It's crazy to see Old Boys who played here 30 years ago sending us messages on Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully the hashtag #backtobacktoback will be trending on Saturday.”
