THE Oratory School was delighted to welcome back OO and recently retired professional rugby player Charlie Ingall (2001-07) for a talk with sports scholars.

First XV captain in his final year, the Faber man played at the Under 18s World Cup for Ireland and was awarded a Silver Cap by the school.

He went onto play in the Premiership for Newcastle Falcons, Wasps and Sale Sharks before ending his career at London Scottish.

Charlie has since co-founded Versa Studios, a TV production company.

His talk focused on four central tenets he believes are beneficial in all avenues, not simply sport.

They are knowledge, self-belief, accountability and enjoyment.

On the first, he said: “You get a lot of people giving you advice, but the skill is to listen the bits which will help you. Forget the rest.

“This has probably never been as important as now, with so much misinformation out there.

“Ask the questions which help work your nutrition, your mindset, your training.”

Moving onto his second theme, Charlie continued: “I wasn’t always in the A team in third form, physically I was so skinny, and I hated being in and out of the team.

“But I had self-belief and it changed the way my career went. It’s been the biggest thing for me.

“I came back the year after faster, stronger – I wanted to be a rugby player, and no-one could tell me otherwise.

“My belief grew and grew as I went through the years and I realised if I put the effort in and wanted to achieve something, I could. You can apply this to anything in life.

“Accountability and discipline are two of the most important skills you can have.

“All the best players I was with, when we reviewed a game, if they made a mistake, they would put their hand up. It helps you grow because it allows you to improve yourself.

“And lastly, enjoy whatever you do – if you do, you’ll be so much better at it!”

A lively Q&A session with students followed, with Charlie saying another OO, Danny Cipriani (1999-2001) was the most talented teammate he played with.

He also talked about the way The Oratory ‘punches above its weight’, and spoke about the way his year group drove each other to new heights.

Benny Howell, Dan Housego, Michael Roberts and Simon Steel all played professional cricket, while Alex Pearce was an Ireland international footballer who made more than 200 appearances for Reading FC.

He said: “We all set standards which you were always trying to top and I’m sure it helped us all.”

*Thank you very much to Charlie and great to see you back at the school!