London state school pupils train to take on private schools at rugby fives

Bold experiment uses sport to boost social mobility while bringing organised games to state schools

St Paul's and Winchester are facing a new rivalry at fives - the handball game that for hundreds of years has largely been the preserve of the most rarified public schools.

Children at Stoke Newington school in Hackney, east London, are leading a new wave of state school rugby fives players who have started training to take on their privileged counterparts in matches that will reach across one of the UK's most entrenched social divides.