(Pictures by David Whittam, See contacts for prints)

With two weeks to go before the first kick off the groundstaff at Wimbledon Common were pumping the water off the pitches.  Things looked grim and one of the pitches had six inches on it.  Luckily the rain finally relented, play got away on time and the pitches held up far better than we could have imagined.  But even then we experienced lightning (only one bolt some miles away, luckily), thunder, rain, sun, sleet, snow, drizzle and arctic winds during the week.  Apart from the weather there was some excellent rugby to watch in all competitions.

The Junior Tournament had a number of strong teams. Wimbledon College and Glantaf both troubled the eventual finalists but failed to stop their progress.  In the end a strong Bro Morgannwg side lost to Judd in the Final 29 -12.  This Judd age group have been at school for nearly two years and have yet to lose a match - in any sport.

The Preps School final was contested between two outstanding sevens exponents.  Both St Olave’s and the Cathedral School, Llandaff had some very promising players.  On the way Llandaff eased past Caldicott and St Olave’s came past Moulsford in the semis.  St Olave’s won 22 – 7 in the Final.  Both the Prep and Junior Finalists received their prizes from England’s Rugby World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson.

In the Festival, King’s Taunton sauntered through the earlier rounds and was not put under any undue pressure until they met Tonbridge in the Semi-final.  Wellington College, who had already had a tough match with KCS, Wimbledon in the Group Winners Round met them in the Final.  It was a see-saw game that could have gone either way but in the end King’s just shaded it 17 – 14.

The Colts had the biggest entry ever – 152 schools in all. It was also probably the most competitive tournament there has been.  Both finalists had narrow escapes in the earlier knock out rounds and Millfield were approximately ninety seconds from going out in Round 4.  Luckily for them two late tries saw them home 22 – 19 against a pacey Austin Friars side, but they eventually succumbed to Queen Elizabeth’s G.S., Wakefield in the Quarter Finals 12 – 14, who then beat free scoring Wimbledon College 12 – 7.  On the other side of the draw Whitchurch squeezed past Epsom 26 – 21 in the quarters and then Wellington College 15 – 19 in the semis.  The final was no less combative with Whitchurch coming through 19 – 14 after being 14 – 0 down at half time.

The Girls tournament was contested between last year’s winners, Colstons, and, new entrants to the tournament, Benenden.  Although Colstons took an early lead Benenden came back at them and could have snatched it near the end.  But it was not to be and Colstons ran out 19 -17 winners.

The draw for the Open threw up the so called “Group of Death” with Wirral, Sedbergh, Neath Port Talbot, St Benedicts and Durham all fighting to get out of the same group.  In the end Neath Port Talbot saw off the fancied Sedbergh side, St Benedicts (Surrey Champions the week before) and the two others.  It was cruel luck on those sides but a random draw based only on geographic location can sometimes do that.  Needless to say Neath Port Talbot was tipped to go a long way but they fell almost immediately to Hartpury in the Group Winners Round.  Coleg Sir Gar saw off Millfield in the same round and despite them being some peoples’ pick for the Final they then lost to Judd in the Quarter-finals. By now Colstons and Hartpury were efficiently working their way through the rounds and it was no great surprise they met in the Final, with Colstons winning 26 – 10.

All in all it was probably one of the most competitive Tournaments ever with standards at an all time high in virtually every competition.  But outside the National Schools Sevens there have been rumblings about England’s U18 policy of playing matches shortly after the event and insisting all squad members must not play in the preceding seven days.  A bit of goodwill and commonsense must prevail in future.  It is not difficult to resolve and this is a dispute that no one should want to happen.  After all, Gareth Edward’s autobiography stated that winning the National School Sevens was THE highlight of his playing career. 

Players of that age should not be forced to make the choice.