Welsh captain Kear inspired by school pals Bale and Warburton

There have been millions of words written about the art of captaincy, perhaps a lot of effort could have been saved by spending some time at Cardiff's Whitchurch High School. When the class of September 1999 walked through the doors, little did staff know that three future Wales captains would be in the ranks.

Ad Sam Warburton skippered Wales at the 2011 and 2015 Rugby Union World Cups, Gareth Bale will do the same at next month's Fifa World Cup and Elliot Kear leads the Dragons at the Rugby League World Cup. Just 284 days separate their respective birthdays.

Rugby LeagueBrown:Representing family heritage will mean moreAN HOUR AGO «We're still in WhatsApp groups with a lot of the lads and it's a great thing isn't it? I'm not sure there is a school in a world that can claim three students in the same year have captained their country in three different sports,» said Kear, as Wales prepare to start their campaign against the Cook Islands in Leigh. «Even at that age you could tell those guys were special and destined for big things.

I played rugby with Sam and his brother Ben and they were so driven from a young age, so professional with how they approached their sport. »Gareth played a bit of rugby too, he was actually pretty decent actually and very fast." Kear, now playing with Championship side Bradford Bulls, is the veteran of the Dragons team having made his international and Super League debut 13 years ago.

He leads a side that has blended youth and experience, indeed one of only two uncapped players is former NRL fullback Caleb Aekins, who recently helped Leigh Centurions win promotion to Super League. However, the biggest challenge for the skipper is arguably not a showpiece showdown with tournament contenders