Teenage Rugby Player Dies After Heart Attack

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Rutlish School pupil collapses on the pitch

Tributes have been paid to a talented teenage rugby player who collapsed on the pitch and died of a heart attack near his home in Morden.

Kyle McInerney, aged 15, collapsed during a training session with team-mates in the Merton Park-based Old Rutlishians under-16s at the Joseph Hood Recreation Ground in Martin Way, Morden.

An ambulance was called and he was rushed to St George's Hospital in Tooting on Friday (May 2), but he could not be saved.

Kyle (left), a pupil at Rutlish School in Merton Park, had been offered a place at Richmond College on a three-year rugby academy course. He had also been nominated for the most improved player of the season in his rugby team.

Mike Stallard, the club's youth chairman, said: "In his own quiet way he worked really hard to establish himself as first-choice prop this season for the under-16s at the club and at school.

"There's an investigation under way into what caused it. All we know is that it was not rugby-related - he'd not been tackled or anything like that."

May 8, 2014