Rugby: Twickenham highlight for captain Wilford (From Bournemouth Echo)

Rugby: Twickenham highlight for captain Wilford

7:00am Friday 28th May 2010 in

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FRAZER Wilford insists captaining Dorset & Wilts at Twickenham will be a bigger privilege than playing for Scotland under-19s in the World Cup.

The Bournemouth hooker was born and bred in Poole, but qualified to line up for Scotland in Dubai because his mother, Cath, is from north of the border.

But Wilford, who switched from Havant to Chapel Gate at the beginning of this term, said he will get a bigger thrill out of leading Twin Counties against Leicestershire on Sunday (noon) than he did playing for his adopted country.

The 23-year-old added: “I think this will be more of a proud moment, playing for my home county in its first senior final at Twickenham.

“I was born and grew up in Poole with my three brothers, Cameron, Fergus and Calum, and played for Dorset & Wilts under-16s and 18s.

“So it’s a dream come true for me. It’s always been an ambition of mine. Having played 30 games for Bournemouth, I thought ‘should I carry on this term?’. But then we picked up momentum and it’s been a great end to the season.

“It would have been easy to stop playing six weeks ago but, on a personal level, I want to represent this county and make sure it is where it should be.

“We haven’t always had the best record in the world, but we have some great players.

“It’s important we put ourselves on the map and we’ve definitely done that now.”

Wilford, who is in charge of rugby at St George Catholic College in Southampton, added: “We’ve won six games in a row and have a winning mentality now.

“There are no feelings we will lose. The core of the squad remained from last season plus a few additions.

“We’ve only conceded 39 points in four championship matches this year and scored 159, results that speak for themselves.

“Simon Culley, Havant’s former backs’ coach and Newbury’s assistant-coach this past season, took over as Dorset & Wilts head coach two years ago and he’s getting better and better.

“He brought the squad together last year and has been rewarded with a final and, hopefully, a trophy.

“For me, it would be one of the proudest moments of my life if I could raise that trophy at Twickenham.”

• Dorset & Wilts are appearing at Twickenham for only the third time at adult representative level.

They are hoping to break their duck by winning a major trophy for the first time.

Twin Counties lost 27-3 to Yorkshire in the under-21 county championship final at English rugby’s illustrious headquarters in 1997. Then, they were beaten 31-7 by the Tykes in the national sevens county championship quarter-final in 2001.

That was when Swans star Phil Graves became the first man in Dorset & Wilts history to score a try at the famous stadium and his Bestwall team-mate Andy Gould also appeared for Twin Counties.

Dorset & Wilts’ squad on duty at Twickenham then, with their 2001 club sides in brackets, was Sam Hardcastle, Dan Cawley (both Bournemouth), Richard Miller, Chris Goulding, Richard Elliott, Geraint Hughes, Richie Bament (all Dorchester), Gould, Graves (both Swanage & Wareham), Mike Marsh (Bryanston School).

There are no survivors in Twin Counties’ squad for Sunday’s County Championship Shield final against Leicestershire, which is a prelude to two other games. The Bill Beaumont Cup final between Gloucestershire and Lancashire starts at 2pm before England meet Barbarians in the MasterCard Trophy at 5pm.