From Lymm Rugby Club to England World Cup semi-final - the incredible rise of Alex Mitchell

ENGLAND Rugby World Cup star Alex Mitchell was just three stone wet through when he first pulled on a Lymm Rugby Union shirt for the Under 7s back in 2003!

Now he is set to feature for England in the Rugby World Cup semi-final against reigning champions South Africa and just 80 minutes from a dream final.

Lymm Rugby Club’s Andy Leach Leach looks back on Alex’s career on his journey to a World Cup semi-final.

From his first match in October 2003 aged 6 against Chester for Lymm U7’s – 3 stone wet through, tag belt touching the ground, the ball looking huge in in his hands – to his final match in May 2015 aged 17 for Lymm U19’s against Wharfedale in the ‘Cock o’ the North’ Cup Final.

At this point, he was firmly embedded in the England Age Group and Sale Academy systems, and Alex has always mesmerised opponents and delighted spectators. In those early days, he demonstrated natural talent and an instinct for the game which, for sure, was helped greatly by having two older brothers to compete with and a father who was a highly regarded rugby coach.

For most people at Lymm, it was, probably, at the end of 2014-15 season when the enormity of his potential really shone through. Having been absent for most of that season with Sale and England commitments Alex made his one and only league appearance for Lymm First XV in the last match of the season against Billingham, a strong team from the North East. Early in the second half, Alex turned the hitherto closely fought encounter on its head scoring an outrageous try from halfway – dummying his way through the whole of the Billingham side and confusing the crowd as well – a brilliant try which only he could have scored, that broke Billingham’s resolve and opened the floodgates for Lymm to secure a comfortable victory.

A couple of weeks later Alex played in the abovementioned Senior Colts ‘Cock o’ the North’ Final at Wharfedale. He played fly half that day and by half time, Lymm were 40 points to the good with Alex having scored, or had a hand in, each of Lymm’s 6 tries.

His performance in that half caused the Wharfedale announcer to bark in a mix of desperation and admiration “Who is that player?”. Then at full time, he wished Alex the best of luck in his career at Northampton Saints, which he was embarking on later that month. Alex’s career and successes have been followed closely by all at Lymm, and it gives us all tremendous pride to see him on the biggest stage of all representing England in the Rugby World Cup.

Young Lymm players have a role model to aspire to; whilst the older generation and his contemporaries can reflect on their personal memories of Alex’s incredible journey. His on-field success has also helped build the Club’s reputation within the rugby community across the country, putting Lymm well and truly “on the map” and within the RFU itself. Indeed, the RFU were at the Club last Sunday, filming for their “It means so much….” series where they go back to the junior clubs that were vital in the development of current England players.

On the international scene, Mitchell represented England at under-16, under-17 and under-18 level. He received his first call-up to the England under-20 team in October 2015 and was a member of the side that completed the grand slam during the 2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship.He was also a member of the squad at the 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Championship, scoring tries in pool fixtures against Samoa and Wales. He also scored tries in the semi-final against South Africa and defeated New Zealand in the final as England finished runners-up. In June 2019 Mitchell started for an England XV in the non-cap Quilter Cup against the Barbarians at Twickenham. In October 2020 Mitchell was called up to a senior England training squad by head coach Eddie Jones and following an injury to Willi Heinz, Mitchell was called into the squad as backup to Ben Youngs and Dan Robson for the conclusion of the 2020 Six Nations Championship. On 31 October 2021 Mitchell was called up to the England squad for their 2021 Autumn Nations Series match against Tonga, replacing the injured Harry Randall.[14] He made his England debut off the bench against Tonga and scored a try on his debut as part of England’s 69–3 victory.

This morning he has just completed the captain’s run with his teammates ahead of the semi-final.

Picture shows Andy Leach and his wife with Alex outside Twickenham following South Africa match in 2021.

Risen up through the ranks 🚀

We went back to retrace @alexmitchell97‘s footsteps from boyhood club @LymmRugbyClub to representing England at the highest level 🌹

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— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) October 19, 2023