We all know that SGS is famous for certain traditions: The Fallows' Shield, Lacrosse, meatball day in the dining hall. But there’s one tradition in particular that three Old Stops are working hard to uphold: the number of former SGS pupils embarking on a professional rugby career, following in the footsteps of alma mater such as Chris Jones (OS 1999). They are already making waves, as they have been signed to Sale Sharks as Senior Academy players, not to mention Dominic Hanson (OS 2024) making his England U20s debut in the 2025 Six Nations (and scoring a try!).

We were invited down to the Sale Sharks training ground in Carrington to meet Dominic Hanson, Albert Bradshaw (OS 2023) and Frank Chatterton (OS 2023) to talk all things professional rugby, friendship and ABBA songs...

What is a typical day in the life for a Sale Sharks Senior Academy player?
Albert Bradshaw (AB): We get in at 7am, have some breakfast, usually followed by some gym. Then we have a few meetings, including the team meeting, which involves bringing all backs and forwards into separate groups and talking over what tactics and what we’re going to do to beat the team.
Frank Chatterton (FC): In the afternoon, we’ll go out with our units, so for me, that might be doing lineout drills, or in the scrum [Frank is a forward, while Albert and Dominic are backs]. For Bert and Dom, it will be kicking. Then the team come together and do a team session, where the Senior Academy will play as the opposition for the Senior team in the line ups that we are going to play at the weekend.

When did you first get interested in rugby? What role did your time at SGS play in your choice to pursue rugby?
AB: I was playing rugby before I started at SGS at a local club but then decided that I wanted to play outside of school with my school mates so I ended up playing for two local clubs at one point. I really enjoyed my rugby at Stockport Grammar, so it made me want to pursue it further, because of the friends I’d made. We’re all close and have stuck really close since school. We have the same passion too for rugby, so definitely friends for life.
FC: When I started playing rugby at SGS, I think you start to take it a little bit more seriously just because the fixtures are probably a bit tougher than they would be at amateur level outside of school. At SGS, we were exposed to top quality coaching. We had Rob Bowden, Hugo Corbett and Anton Hanson, who are all good coaches that make you want to play better. They helped us improve and get better opportunities.

What is the most important lesson that you’ve learnt so far in your Rugby career?
FC: I’d say coming away from school into a professional environment, I’ve realised how you’ve got to be dedicated - whether that be with your general fitness off the pitch so you can perform on the pitch, which is something I’ve struggled with over the last two years. But equally, you need to be dedicated to preparing for training, making sure you know your roles, know your detail. That’s really important.

How do how do you deal with spending large amounts of time together?
Dominic Hanson (DH): I’ve enjoyed playing with Frank and Bertie. I mean, it’s always good to have sort of the experience of playing for many years at school together and then coming into this environment and doing it all with all over again.

FC: It feels like two minutes ago, doesn’t it, that we were doing games sessions, and we probably thought a professional career was out of reach. But to be able to do this with, you know, two of my closest mates is pretty special.

Is there a song or artist that you play as part of your pre-match preparations?
FC: (laughs) We listen to 'De Profundis' – the school psalm, of course (!)
AB: 'Hotel Room Service' by Pitbull.
FC: When we won, we used to listen to 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' by ABBA. It came about on a rugby tour that we went on.
DH: Last year, I like listening to 'Black and Gold' by Sam Sparrow. That used to be our winning song.

This article is taken from the 2025 edition of Old Stops' Review