Tribute to David Rollitt and Peter Colston
England Rugby has paid tribute to two England and Bristol Rugby legends of the 1960s and 70s who died recently, one a powerful forward who was capped in all three back-row positions, the other becoming one of England’s first coaches.
David Rollitt, who has died aged 79, played for Barnsley and Wakefield while a pupil at Barnsley Holgate Grammar School and for Western Counties v New Zealand while at Bristol University, While training to be a teacher, he played in the Loughborough Colleges team beating Bristol before, while teaching at Colston’s, making his Bristol debut in 1966.
Usually a No 8, he made a total of 415 first team appearances and was instrumental in the appointment of Peter Colston as the first Bristol coach. Rollitt made his England debut in 1967, winning 11 international caps and later, while teaching at St Pauls, played at Richmond. He represented both Gloucestershire and Middlesex and played for the Barbarians.. He also coached at club and representative level and influenced countless schoolboy and older players.
Colston, former Bristol player, captain, coach, chairman and President of Bristol Rugby Former Players Committee, was a talented back and, having coached at his old school St Brendan’s, became first Bristol coach and later England coach. A centre, and latterly a full back, he was a pioneer when coaching was viewed with suspicion.
He trained as a teacher at St Mary’s College, Twickenham, captaining their rugby XV before teaching at St Thomas More School and at St Brendan’s, and playing for St Brendan’s Old Boys. He made his debut for Bristol in 1957, going on to play 252 first team games, and captaining from 1963—65. While Bristol captain he played at full back for Western Counties against New Zealand in December 1963.
The tradition was for Bristol’s captain to supervise training sessions, but when David Rollitt was appointed captain in 1969-70 he invited Peter to become Bristol’s first official coach, and together they forged a brilliant side which scored a club record 908 points in Peter’s first season as coach, and two seasons later won both the Sunday Telegraph English and English/Welsh Merit Tables, scoring over 1,000 points. A further English Merit Table title followed two years later.
As the value of coaching became recognised, he held regular courses for aspiring coaches at Bisham Abbey, Lilleshall and introduced coaching awards. Peter’s innovations included using the hooker, rather than a winger, to throw the ball in at lineouts. The RFU invited him to chair its coaching advisory panel, and in 1973 he became coach of England U23s, moving on to coach the full national side from 1975 until 1979.
