School Sports - Rugby Union

Being a boarding school (known as a Public School in the UK, though really should be a "private" school as entry was by entrance exam and high school fees!) modelled on the UK system (we used to sit Oxford and Cambridge O and A levels) I suppose it was natural that Rugby (Union, not League where physical contact was minimal!) was our main sport.
We had a very successful 1st XV and every weekend they played either at home or away at another school. The school had a bus and a lorry - with seating in the rear - to take the teams to other schools and it was always quite an adventure.
We were a relatively small school back then, with only around 350 pupils, but still managed to field an amazing array of teams - Seniors (1st through 4th XV's), Middles (under 15 and under 16, A and B sides!) and Juniors (under 14 A and B) - meaning that around 150 pupils, plus some reserves, competed every weekend, out of 350!
I don't recall that much about my junior or middle school years as far as Rugby was concerned, other than we were expected to go and support the First team when they played at home on Saturday. We had to turn up smartly dressed in school tracksuit, and had to cheer vociferously, goaded by a "cheerleader" who was a school prefect, and woe betide anyone he felt was not stretching his lungs to the limit!
We had to play Rugby twice a week, though I do not recall any formal coaching for those of us who did not compete in a school team, we simply turned up where a teacher was waiting, he would separate us into two roughly equal teams (we didn't always have a full 15) and we would play a game.
When I entered Fifth Form (penultimate school year) the Senior game was somewhat different, as by then numbers of older pupils were down (many left after O levels either because they were going on to other higher education, or simply were too thick to continue on to A level!), so we were clumped into 2 "games", first and second. First "Game" produced the 1st and 2nd XV teams, and they used to train together, and the second "Game" produced the 3rd and 4th XV teams - 3rd's was really the under 17 team, but 4th's was more of a social side - made up of those older pupils not good enough to make a "proper" team (some bigger schools had many more teams that we did), and this is where I fit in! I was competitive as I was pretty fit back then, and played winger as I was also fairly fleet of foot.
Our school was one of only a handful of multi-racial schools - most of the state schools were "whites only", which meant that they would not permit our "non-white" players from competing at their venues! So while I played regularly for the 4th XV some weeks I would be called up to the first "game" to train with the 1st and 2nd XV for an away game. Training with them was a painful experience - these guys were muscle-bound professionals compared to our social players (think 3rd Division football team playing against Premier League side!), and though I had the speed to keep up with them, I used to get trampled underfoot, or, on one occasion, picked up by my shirt collar and thrown into touch!
I had clear instructions for the main game - get rid of the ball as quickly as possible, and use my speed to keep everyone on-side! So for line-outs on my side of the field (when the correct coded instruction was given - "peaches") my role was to follow the kicked ball (that was what "peaches" meant) by sprinting down the touchline to keep everyone on-side, and on no account touch the ball (my ball-handling skills were not up to 2nd XV standard!). On one occasion, however, the ball took a bad bounce and was directly in my path - and as there were no team-mates nearby, nor any opponents, I just had to catch the ball and run in for a try! Although at the end of the game that score separated the two teams I was still told off for not following instructions! Also I hadn't thought to cut in and score under the posts, but simply continued running straight and scored out near the touchline! I still don't think I stopped smiling for three days though!
Our school had extremely good sports pitches - even the training pitches were green and lush and flat - but this was not always the case at other schools. Some pitches had almost no grass and were like playing on concrete! Our coaches always drilled into us "tackle low to bring the player down" (we would be penalised for "above the knee" tackles!), but on these hard pitches this was extremely painful and we used to travel home with skinned knees and hips, and we used to carry the scars throughout the Rugby term!