Millfield won the Wycliffe 7s yesterday, making it their second tournament win in five days following their victory at the Colston’s 7s on Sunday.

The day started off with a bit of a reshuffle as Marling unfortunately had to drop out of the competition. That meant a slight change to the format of the competition, but did mean that semi finals were now included – adding some exciting extra spice.

Millfield and Sir Thomas Rich’s topped their respective groups, with Dean Close and Kingswood coming in second place to fill up the semi final spots while the Plate competition was made up of the third and fourth placed teams from each group.

That put hosts Wycliffe into the plate semi finals, where they faced Katherine Lady Berkeley’s, of England Number 8 Ben Morgan fame, while Prior Park and KES Bath faced off in the other semi.

In the Cup Dean Close and Sir Thomas Rich’s played out a close semi final, with Sir Thomas Rich’s nudging through 12-5. However in the other semi final Millfield were at their rampant best, beating Kingswood by an astonishing 46 points to nill.

That was quite some victory and a very big statement of intent ahead of the final, and so it proved as they comfortably beat Sir Thomas Rich’s 22-7 to retain their Wycliffe 7s crown.

Things were slightly less clear-cut in the Plate, though the two semi finals were similarly comfortably won. Wycliffe beat Katherine Lady Berkley’s 33-14 before KES Bath went out and almost exactly repeated that feat against Prior Park, winning 34-14.

The almost identical nature of those two semi final scores was shown in the final as Wycliffe and KES Bath matched each other score for score. With time ticking down the game was tied at 19 all, and so it was to move into extra time and the dreaded ‘golden try’.

Home advantage seemed to do the trick for the hosts though, they secured that all-important first score to win 24-19 and secure the Plate trophy.

Quite a way to end the day, and a glorious triumph for Wycliffe. Ultimately though the day was all about Millfield and the latest addition to their trophy cabinet. For them though, these are just stepping-stones on the way to their ultimate aim, winning at the Rosslyn Park National School 7s, and as such they are keen to eke out even more from their performances, as captain Callum Sheedy said:

“Good start but still plenty to work on, Llandovery will be a big test on Wednesday!”

On this evidence though, that is exactly what all the other schools will be saying about them.

Wycliffe 7s knockout results:

Cup

Final – Millfield 22-7 Sir Thomas Rich’s

Semi Finals

Millfield 46-0 Kingswood

Dean Close 5-12 Sir Thomas Rich’s

Plate

Final – Wycliffe 24-19 KES Bath (golden try)

Semi Finals

Wycliffe 33-14 Katherine Lady Berkeley’s

Prior Park 14-34 KES Bath