It was another good weekend of schools rugby, the fixture list was slightly shorter due to many schools having exeats, however the quality was certainly not reduced.

As ever, choosing our Top 5 schools of the weekend was no easy task, balancing good results, expectation, opposition quality, and all sorts of other factors leaves you with plenty of room for debate, as shown by some of the sides who do not make our top 5.

Without any further ado then, here are this week’s Top 5 School 1^st XVs of the weekend:

Bromsgrove

‘Nilling’ anyone is impressive, but nilling a side who have just come off the back of a 66-0 victory themselves is very impressive, and that is exactly what happened with Bromsgrove.

They beat Ellesmere College 24-0 on Saturday, a week after Ellesmere had beaten the 2012 Schools Cup finalists, Old Swinford Hospital, 66-0. OSH may be in a bit of decline, but 66-0 is impressive by any standards, which makes Bromsgrove’s 24-0 victory very good indeed,  and that to victory over Denstone College and a narrow loss to Warwick, and Bromsgrove are looking in good shape.

King’s School, Macclesfield

RGS Lancaster have not been setting the world alight this, but nor have they been overly disappointing. They went into Saturday’s game have played four, won 2, lost 2 – hardly disastrous. King’s went in have won both of their games, including an impressive 44-7 win over Manchester Grammar.

So King’s were favourites, however few could possibly have predicted that they would get there record ever score and winning margin again RGS, a side with a proud rugby tradtion. A 53-0 victory was beyond any expectation and was a real show of strength, earning a spot in our top 5 this week.

RGS High Wycombe

RGS High Wycombe make our Top 5 for pure heart. Last week they were embarrassed with a 67-7 defeat at Millfield. Losing to Millfield is no embarrassment, but losing in that manner will have hurt a lot, and will have been almost impossibly difficult for the players to recover from.

This week they faced Sir Thomas Rich’s, a good team, but a team that RGS would ordinarily be favourites for, however in the face of that defeat last week – it was a game that was very losable for RGS, whose confidence must have been low.

That they came through for a strong 29-18 victory was therefore very impressive. A show not just of quality but also of excellent heart, resilience, and excellent work from their coaching staff.

Stowe

Stowe are being tipped as one of the sides to watch this year, they won the Tynedale Festival for the second year running, before losing by a point to a last minute try from Stamford in their opening game. Some might say a top team would not let that happen, but the rules are a little different against Stamford, they have not lost at home for three years.

Stowe proved their point by bouncing back to beat Oakham 35-0, but on Saturday cam their first big test of the year, Warwick, the 2014 NatWest Cup finalists, U15 winners, and back to back U15 finalists. This is a schools with serious depth now.

Stowe came through the test, winning 20-14, and showing the school rugby world that they mean business this year.

Trinity School

Trinity are often portrayed as the ‘third’ team in the Croydon area, behind those two high achievers, Whitgift and John Fisher. Trinity have been going about their business well though, enjoying an excellent unbeaten pre season tour before beating Glyn 60-0 in their first game of the season.

That was all just history though on Saturday, Saturday was all about one thing – getting one up on their local rivals John Fisher, and proving that they are a force to be reckoned with.

It would be no easy task, in their first two games of the season, against Hurstpierpoint and Campion, Fisher had scored a combined total of 100 points and conceded just 13. Ominous form to say the least.

Trinity were unabashed though and battled their way to a brilliant 33-28 victory – a huge statement, and proof that Trinity are definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Honourable Mentions – It is always tricky choosing a top 5 and there are always schools who miss out, there are also a few sides who do not make the top five but whose efforts deserve mention. Not least Grammar School at Leeds who posted yet another massive score, this time against Durham, Epsom College who beat a good Cranleigh team by 21 points, and Dulwich College who built on that draw with Wellington with an excellent and big victory over KCS Wimbledon.

Do you agree with our top 5? Who would have made yours? Let us know via @FifteenRugbyXV or just leave a comment below!

 

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