ENGLAND and British Lions stars Matt Dawson and Nick Beal returned to the Royal Grammar School on Tuesday and were reunited with their old school reports.

Headteacher Tim Dingle stunned the star duo by plucking their old reports from the archives and hitting them with them when they returned to the school for prizegiving night.

And for England skipper Dawson, who was once put on-report at school for his poor behaviour, it was a less than glowing recent history lesson down Memory Lane.

He got straight Ds on his history report and was accused of poor concentration.

The England and Northampton scrum half said: 'It wasn't too much of a surprise. I knew exactly what I was like at school. History wasn't one of my strongest subjects and I was never one of the greatest students as this report shows.'

Dawson reckons it was only his excellence on the sports field that kept him there.

He said: 'The school was very good to me. I was mediocre on my GCSEs but they made a little hole for me because of my sport and I am indebted to them for that.

'I know what this school has done for me. I'm not a person who forgets where my roots are. If it wasn't for this school I wouldn't be playing for England.'

International and club colleague Beal agreed. He also said he owed his success to the school and its rugby master Colin Tattersall - even though there were times when he would have preferred to have been playing golf rather than having another rugby lesson.

But it was clear that the school were right to push him into the oval ball game. They identified his talent as his 1983 rugby report showed.

That read: 'Nick's a very talented player who captains by example.'

Beal who is on crutches and out of action until January said: 'It's the first time I've ever seen those reports. It's a total shock. I thought they'd have been lost by now.'

Like Dawson he was full of praise for the school and delighted to return.

He said: 'To be honest if I hadn't gone to the RGS I would never have played for England. They push you to a higher level here.'

Playing a starring role at prizegiving was something neither experienced as pupils, although both got their hands on the Victor Ludorum trophy for sporting endeavour.