Why Do We Play? – Hampton Rugby First XV Season Review

By Will Olsen

If you’re the All Blacks, dominant seasons are the norm. If you’re Italy, heartbreak is what you expect. But for most of us there’s a moderate middle ground, and that prompts an interesting question. Why do we play? Is it the lifelong bond with teammates, the drive to reach the top, or the constant urge to work hard for each other? This season, the Hampton First XV answered that question in three acts.

Act One: Why We Play: The Bond

The 15s season was never really about rugby. It was about what rugby builds between people. It started before we pulled on the shirt, on tour in Ireland, four days of training that mattered far less than four days of living together as a squad. Two brilliant wins against Rockwell College and Leinster Academy were the highlight, but what stayed with us wasn’t the scorelines. It was Ollie Williams, a towering second row, somehow finding himself on the wing and producing a run that nobody who saw it will soon forget. It was Toby Brotherstone and Xavier O’Donnell imposing themselves physically in a way that lifted everyone around them. A group of individuals started to feel like a team.

That feeling carried into the plate run. A cup exit to KCS stung, but what followed showed what camaraderie looks like under pressure. Omar’s opening try against St John’s – sharp, instinctive, the product of a player trusted by his teammates – set the tone. Then came fifteen minutes of defensive resilience that squeezed us through by a single point. Nobody flinched. A comfortable win over Worth followed, and with each game the bonds tightened. By the time our next opponents arrived in the round of 16, this wasn’t a group of players anymore. It was a team. A brutal game against St Benedict’s meant we were out of the plate by one point, a heartbreaking end. But it brought us closer.

Act Two: Why We Play: The Drive

If the 15s season was about togetherness, the 7s season was about hunger. That desire to test yourself at the top of the schoolboy game, to see exactly how good you can be – the 7s format strips everything back and exposes it.

Founders Day set the tone immediately. Wins over Millfield and Brighton College announced that we meant business, and though we narrowly missed out on a cup final spot through points difference, a gutting way to fall short, silverware came regardless. Tom Deedman, our golden boy, was unplayable throughout, and the squad was beginning to believe.

Richmond 7s sharpened that belief into something harder. Beating KCS reopened old wounds in the best possible way, but it was Whitgift, our trickiest game of the season, that really showed what this group was chasing. Stan Amor and Seb Habdank produced tantalising performances to edge us four points ahead and into a semi final. A strong win over Bishop Wand set up a final against Cranleigh, and this was when the drive to win took over completely. From the first whistle we were electric, not just individually, but collectively. We outmanoeuvred a bigger, more physical side and won by a try. First cup silverware. That feeling of having pushed yourself to the very top of your game and come out on top, that’s why you play.

Act Three: Why We Play: Each Other

Rosslyn Park was where the season asked its hardest question. A pool of death – Harrow, Clifton, Bishop Wand, Bedford – demanded everything, and the squad gave it. Sam Vowles and captain Deedman led us past last year’s semi-finalists Harrow with real authority. Will Squire and Amor drove us through the rest to reach cup day two.

Then came the brutal part. Cranleigh, NSB and Kirkham in the day two groups. Back-to-back losses to Kirkham and eventual cup winners NSB hurt. There was no sugarcoating it. But what happened next was the most telling moment of the season, because nobody stopped working for each other. A final game against Cranleigh, in front of a big home crowd, with nothing left to play for but pride. Amor was immense, and Toby Quigley produced a performance of the season, dominant in the air and unstoppable with ball in hand, as we won 21–5.

That win didn’t come from tactics or talent alone. It came from a group of players who genuinely enjoy the hard work, who find something fun in grinding together when it matters least to anyone else. That’s the hardest thing to build in a team, and the most rewarding when you have it.

So why do we play? After a season like this, the answer is simple. We play for the bond that makes you run harder for the man next to you. We play for the drive that makes a cup final feel like the only thing in the world. And we play for those moments, like a 21–5 win, that mean everything and nothing at the same time, when working hard for each other is its own reward.