The fiercely competitive 2013/14 school rugby season continued in that fashion this weekend with a mixture of unpredictable wins, high scoring entertainers and low scoring nail biters.
We begin our look back at the weekend with the four fixtures featured in our Daily Mail Trophy Competition, which due to an unlikely draw between Radley and Tonbridge once again produced no winners.
Probably the big shock of the four was Rugby’s victory over Uppingham. Uppingham have been in fantastic form while Rugby have been up and down of late, however a strong victory could well now see the back on track.
Dulwich showed their strength to beat Brighton College 35-21, Dulwich knew that a win was vital after a solid but unspectacular start to the season and they absolutely delivered on that need.
Hampton were another side to show their class, they beat RGS High Wycombe 15-8. RGS are a side with so much potential and that victory on the opening weekend against Wellington seemed to suggest that this crop of U15 Daily Mail Cup winners were going to deliver on that potential, however since that they have found turning performances into points a little more difficult.
They have been facing some of the most challenging schools on the circuit though so sides should be wary of mistaking a modest win/lose record for a modest side.
Hampton remain undefeated other than their loss to New Zealand touring side Tauranga, and look well placed to repeat some of their feats of last year.
Rounding off our four featured games then was Radley’s 7-7 draw with Tonbridge. Picking a winner between these two did seem like a tough ask, though with good form and home advantage most people had erred on the side of Radley.
It leaves both sides well placed to kick on for the rest of the season though and with Abingdon and Cranleigh next up for these two avoiding defeat was an important achievement.
Outside of those four fixtures credit must go to Stamford who bounced back from defeat to Bedford to bear Bedford Modern 34-15. That result extends their two year unbeaten home record, a record that we mistakenly said had been broken by Bedford when in fact the fixture was in Bedford.
Speaking of Bedford, they continued their fine form with a 27-22 victory over Oakham, whilst Oakham’s conquerors last week, Warwick, showed their undoubted class to beat Whitgift 16-15. That result condemns the much fancied London side to a second defeat in a row, making their derby with John Fisher next week an even more tantalising prospect, particularly as Fisher extended their unbeaten start to the season with a big win against Ravens Wood.
Whitgift were not the only side to suffer a shock defeat though, Solihull’s excellent run came to an abrupt end with a 22-36 defeat to Bromsgrove whilst the excellent KCS Wimbledon surprisingly fell to Eton College 30-11, a tremendous result for Eton putting them back on track after a couple of defeats.
Marlborough also got back to winning ways; they beat Canford in a thriller, 37-33.
Clifton continued their fine form with a 29-12 victory over St Edward’s Oxford, suggesting that after missing out on the September Team of the Month Award they will probably still be knocking around for the October gong.
Yet again the North of England produced some stunning results, Durham thumped Hymers 51-3, while Grammar School at Leeds once again defied our predictions, this time with a 21-12 victory over RGS Newcastle.
The game of the weekend in the north was though, without a doubt, Woodhouse Grove’s 16-14 victory over King’s Macclesfield. It came courtesy of a drop goal from Charles Morgan in the final play, ending King’s Macclesfield’s unbeaten run and extending Woodhouse Grove’s.
Both sides were in contention for the September award but missed out due to not having yet faced any of their toughest opponents but Grove’s win shows that they are among the very best in the country.
The side that did win our September award though was Wellington and they showed exactly why by beating Harrow 40-25. Their major rivals for that award were Millfield who bounced back brilliantly from their midweek defeat to Palmerston North to beat Sherborne 42-14.
Stowe’s wobbly start to the season looks to be over, a massive win in midweek in the NatWest Cup obviously gave them a confidence boost as they just edged out Oundle 12-11 to set themselves up for a good run at the remainder of the term.
A couple of noteworthy big scores were Eltham’s 51-3 victory over Sevenoaks and Sir Thomas Rich’s 32-0 win over Colston’s, who had beaten King’s Worcester to nil last week.
It all sets up for what should be another exciting and busy week of school rugby coming up!
Selected Results:
Dulwich 35-21 Brighton (XV Competition)
Hampton 15-8 RGS High Wycombe (XV Competition)
Radley 7-7 Tonbridge (XV Competition)
Uppingham 10-34 Rugby (XV Competition)
Ampleforth 41-0 Sedbergh 2nd XV
Stamford 34-15 Bedford Modern
Bedford 27-22 Oakham
Blundell’s 11-7 Truro
Solihull 22-36 Bromsgrove
Marlborough 37-33 Canford
King’s College Taunton 9-21 Cheltenham
Christ College 27-12 Malvern
Clifton 29-12 St Edward’s Oxford
Sir Thomas Rich’s 32-0 Colston’s
Cranleigh 27-3 Portsmouth Grammar School
Durham 51-3 Hymers College
Eltham 51-3 Sevenoaks
Eton 30-11 KCS Wimbledon
Harrow 25-40 Wellington
Ravens Wood 13-36 John Fisher
RGS Lancaster 16-13 Kirkham Grammar
Millfield 42-14 Sherborne
King’s Worcester 10-34 Monmouth
RGS Newcastle 12-21 Grammar School at Leeds
Woodhouse Grove 16-14 King’s Macclesfield
Whitgift 15-16 Warwick
Haileybury 28-44 St Albans
St Paul’s 24-5 Abingdon
Oundle 11-12 Stowe