AS the Rugby World Cup kicks off tonight, Wycombe Wanderers keeper Matt Ingram has revealed how he was put off an education at the Royal Grammar School because they would only play with the oval ball.


The talented youngster had the choice of both of Wycombe’s grammar schools when he was 11 but he says it was an open evening at the RGS that turned him off them and persuaded him to go to John Hampden School instead.


He said: “I was at the opening evening for the RGS, sitting in the hall when the head master said ‘football is only for the playground, we play rugby here’.


“That made my mind up. I didn’t want to go there. I went to John Hampden because I wanted to play football. It was a no-brainer because I love football so much.”


Parents Rob and Sue supported his decision. He went to John Hampden and the rest is history. He became the school’s goalkeeper, was soon picked up by Wycombe Wanderers and has now played more than 100 times for his hometown club.


 “I don’t know what would have happened if I had gone to the RGS. I wouldn’t have been playing for Wycombe Wanderers, that’s for sure. I liked maths and geography, so maybe a career in one of those areas or who knows, maybe a rugby player,” he joked.


Much of Ingram’s development at Adams Park can be put down to goalkeeping coach Lee Harrison, who will be in the opposite dugout when Blues face league leaders Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road tomorrow.


Ingram said: “It will be nice to see Lee again. I worked under him for about two years and made my debut underneath him. I’ve got a lot to thank him for. He had a lot of faith in me and as a goalkeeper you work very closely with the goalkeeping coach because there are only two or three of you working with him.”


Ingram was forced to taste defeat for the first time this season when Plymouth became the only side so far this season to put two goals past him. Both came from set-pieces and Blues have been training overtime on the training ground this week to ensure that was a one-off.