Wellington College beat Tonbridge 33-5 in the HSBS Rosslyn Park National School Sevens Festival giving them their third Festival title in a row.

Wellington had been the best side in the tournament across the two days and in Simon Sexton and Charlie Wicks they had two of the most intelligent Sevens players in the tournament.

A stoic defence had seen them through most of the way but it was their attack that won them the trophy at they end of the day, they ran in five tries in the final, including two in the opening minutes to put Tonbridge under immediate pressure.

Tonbridge had looked good all day and probably had visions of the 2010 final, when they beat Wellington to win the Festival, as they headed into this one. However tiredness looked to have set in, which was of no surprise really given that they had dealt with two of the most dramatic games of the day, a 14-12 win against Denstone and a 12-10 win against Bedford.

Indeed Bedford had looked as though they might have been real dark horses for the trophy after skipping under the radar yesterday they were in superb form today. Their early season fifteen-a-side form returned with a bang, with Charlie Esam looking particularly threatening.

On the other side of the draw, King’s College Taunton also surprised many. We tipped them yesterday as potential dark horses and they nearly proved us right, on slipping up in the semi final against the eventual winners.

It was a bit of a surprise to see King’s Worcester go out at the quarter final stage, given their supreme sevens form this season, however by bad luck of the draw either them or Wellington College were always going to see their hopes dashed at that stage after being paired just a group apart.

This was Wellington’s day though, and deservedly so, they had shown that they had form when they reached the final of the Surrey 7’s last week but they played to an even higher standard over the past couple of days.

It was pleasing also to see such a large number of Wellington supporters throughout the competition, though of course the proximity of Rosslyn Park to Wellington College helps, the event is in a large part made thanks to the unique atmosphere created by those on the touchlines.

It was also excellent to see a number of schools throughout the day who were not involved today, showing that the sportsmanly spirit of rugby still continues, even on a wet, cold, muddy day.

It is perhaps the weather that is a fitting note to end on, conditions were as far removed from ‘sevens conditions’ than can possibly be adequately described, and yet across two days 120 schools produced some sevens of breathtaking quality, ignoring the conditions (aside from some testing kick offs) to play exciting running rugby. As such the winners were fittingly the side who played the best sevens all Festival.