KELLY College's Oliver Massy-Birch has been selected for the England U16 rugby squad.

The talented youngster moved to scrum half this year, representing Kelly College first XV, playing at U18 level in some high quality schoolboy matches. He was selected at scrum half for Devon U16s – where they defeated Bristol, Gloucestershire and Cornwall – and played so well he was rewarded with a place at scrum half for the South West U16s team in their divisional championship. He played in the divisional trials at Moseley Rugby Club, Birmingham where his South West U16s' team dominated proceedings, defeating the Midlands and London and the South East XVs.

Oliver plays with a lot of passion and has been totally dedicated to training and learning over his years at Kelly College. These qualities mixed with a huge amount of skill, saw him being selected for the England U16 squad of 40 players. He is confident he will gain a full cap in the annual U16 Six National Tournament held in April this year, and will be the first Kelly boy to represent England for ten years.

Oliver is delighted with the news and said, 'I would like to thank my coaches at Kelly College, Damien Cummins, director of sport, and Roger Smerdon, director of Rugby Development and also my Crediton club coaches, Chris Lee and Rooney Matthews, for all their support and encouragement throughout my rugby career.'

His headmaster Dr Hawley said he was delighted for Oliver who deserves his opportunity for national honours. He said: 'It underlines that, although we are a small school, our pupils are able to reach the highest pinnacles of achievement in a whole range of sports, academic pursuits and cultural activities.'