26 Apr 2021
Written By Matthew Eastley

1st XV 1975/76….and a drink with Rod Turner

St Mary’s 1975/76 first fifteen was a strong one. It was the year when the highly successful 1971 ‘invincibles’ (the likes of Shanahan, Conlon, Beaton, Pearce, Hinton and Stevens) became eligible for first and second fifteen rugby. They joined up with some outstanding players who had joined between 1968 and 1970, of whom Paddy Norton and Steve Peet were the stand-outs. The team was also bolstered by the arrival at St Mary’s in the sixth form of Shaun Thorogood who would win the Tony Stevens Memorial Trophy the following season. The team was coached by Rod Turner who had instilled a winning mentality and transformed the school’s rugby-playing reputation. With an aggressive, mobile pack and lightning-fast backs with sure handling, this team was a force to be reckoned with.

Rod Turner says: “We had a big pitch with a slope at St Mary’s and one of the things we used to do with the first fifteen is choose to play up the slope in the first half and not give them an inch. Then we’d slaughter the opposition in the second half playing down the hill.”

Below, the numbers in brackets show what year these lads started at St Mary’s and note that some of them are third-year sixth formers:

Top row, left to right, Geoff Hinton (1971), Kevin Alcock (1969), Adrian Hewett (1970), Mark Conlon (1971), Peter Alexander (1970), Shaun Thorogood (1975 – joined in the sixth form), Mark Stevens (1971), John Shanahan (1971), Rob Pearce (1971), Gerard Sheehan (1969)

Front row, left to right, Simon Beaton (1971), Vince Smith (1969), Steve Peet (1968), Nicky Warren (1968), Richard D’Silva (1969), Paddy Norton (1968), Martin Black (1970)

• Rod Turner will be visiting the Maidstone/Wateringbury area of Kent for a family gathering in August and would like to invite anyone who is interested to meet him for a drink on Sunday 22 August, likely to be at lunchtime. So if you fancy a quick scoot down the A21 or the A20 to meet up, you’d be more than welcome, rugby players or otherwise. Firmer details nearer the time.