Close scorelines seemed to dominate the school rugby scene this weekend, with two of the four fixtures featured in our Daily Mail Trophy Competition being won by just a single point.

Sedbergh once again showed what a force they are this year, they beat the previously unbeaten Durham 29-9 to send out a big statement to the rest of the country about their quality.

They have an even bigger chance to send out a statement on Friday though when they play Whitgift, in what is probably going to be one of the most telling games of the season to date.

In preparation, Whitgift just beat John Fisher, 25-24, to avoid a third Daily Mail Trophy defeat in a row and to build up some much needed confidence ahead of that match.

Fisher will take heart though, their second half comeback will give them the confidence that they can do well at the St Joseph’s Festival this weekend.

Less high scoring but no less tight was Bromsgrove’s 7-6 victory of Clifton College. Clifton were unbeaten going into this one but Bromsgrove showed what a tough side they are this year to nail the victory.

Sherborne bounced back from defeat to Millfield the previous week to beat an in form Cheltenham College side 17-10 to ensure that their season did not lose track after that heavy defeat.

One side that has no worries about how on track they are is Wellington College. They continued their fine start to the season with a 46-5 victory of Eton College.

Wellington play Bryanston at London Irish tomorrow for their annual fixture so this result should fill them with confidence. Bryanston will have a decent amount of confidence too though, after two defeats in a row they responded excellently at the weekend to beat Blundell’s 19-13, at Blundell’s.

Another side to storm towards victory was Dulwich College, they beat the heavily in form Bedford 43-7 in one of the most surprisingly dominant displays of any side at the weekend. With both sides heading to St Joseph’s this weekend it could be a telling psychological blow.

In midweek Kirkham Grammar School host Tonbridge in a fundraising match for the Graeme College Scholarship Foundation, both schools raise money for Graeme College (a South African School) and Kirkham Grammar offer scholarships to rugby players from the school in difficult circumstances. Details of the programme and the benefit match are available here.

 

In preparation, Tonbridge had the perfect warm up, beating the excellent Cranleigh 29-25, whilst Kirkham lost 20-12 to Denstone, giving Tonbridge the favourites tag going into Wednesday’s match.

Selected School Results 12/10/13:

Clifton 6-7 Bromsgrove (XV Competition)

Durham 9-29 Sedbergh (XV Competition)

John Fisher 24-25 Whitgift (XV Competition)

Sherborne 17-10 Cheltenham College (XV Competition)

Ampleforth 17-19 RGS Newcastle

Hymers 10-24 Barnard Castle

Dulwich 43-7 Bedford

Grammar School at Leeds 21-26 Bradford Grammar School

Brighton 35-25 Trinity

Campion 8-19 KCS Wimbledon

Tonbridge 29-25 Cranleigh

Denstone 20-12 Kirkham Grammar

Hampton 32-5 Ravens Wood

Hurstpierpoint 30-25 Worth

Lymm High 5-50 Woodhouse Grove

Solihull 43-15 St Peter’s Gloucester

Stamford 10-3 Uppingham

More to follow..