A TOP schoolboy rugby player is preparing to move into the big league after signing with Gallagher Premiership side Newcastle Falcons.

Barnard Castle School sixth former and open-side flanker Guy Pepper is enjoying a double celebration after joining Falcons’ senior academy and securing an offer from Durham University to read sport and exercise science.

Guy, of Eggleston, in Teesdale, is the latest in a string of Barnard Castle School boys given their first professional contracts by the club over the years including current Falcons forward Freddie Lockwood, Alex and Mathew Tait, Bath hooker Ross Batty and Lee Dickson, who has returned to the school as director of rugby after a successful career playing scrum-half for Northampton Saints and England. The 18-year-old will begin pre-season training with the first-team squad in July, having trained with the junior squad twice a week during the pandemic.”