Day four of the HSBC Rosslyn Park National School 7s saw the conclusion of the highly competitive Festival, as well as the start of the flagship Open tournament.

The two U18 tournaments vie for attention in the morning before the Festival really begins to fire with the semi finals and final in the afternoon, with the Open knockouts taking place tomorrow, the final day of the tournament.

Festival

Stowe and Tonbridge stood out all day in the Festival, and it was therefore fitting that they reached the final, and what a final it was.

Stowe raced to a 10-0 lead before Tonbridge cut the gap to just a single try ahead of half time. Stowe had a good blend of pace and physicality, a useful trait in what had become a somewhat sodden Rosslyn Park after a torrential hour of rainfall around midday.

Stowe added a third try in the second half to go 15-5 ahead, but Tonbridge, ever spirited, fought back with another score as they too looked to use their physicality to get past their opponents.

It was a tense and emotional final, as ever, but Stowe were the deserved winners by a 15-12 scoreline. Their pace and power through the likes of Rotimi Segun and Seun Coker was outstanding and all day they had caused teams problems with it, topping a quarter final pool that also included Blundell’s and Epsom College, who were both predicted by many to go far, before then winning their semi final pool with a 29-7 victory over Stonyhurst College and a 25-7 win over Bedford Modern, two schools who had been terrorising their opposition up until that point.

Tonbridge were equally devastating, topping a quarter final pool that included Berkhamsted and the hugely impressive Denstone College before then beating Seaford Colelge 33-17 and Cheltenham College, impressive all day, 24-12 to top their semi final pool.

Despite fears that too many teams were now in the Open, the Festival once again proved to be a top class and exciting competition, with two great finalists.

Stowe certainly deserved their silverware after a tremendous couple of days of work.

Over in the Plate Cranleigh picked up the title, beating Worth 19-10 in the final. Cranleigh had topped a quarter final pool with Bradford Grammar and Ellesmere College before then narrowly edging past Royal Hospital School to top their semi final pool after a 19-0 win over Prior Park.

Open

The Open tournament, as always had plenty of excitement and bucketloads of top quality rugby. The tournament started with Champions Millfield on the showcase pitch, and they showed all of their class throughout the day, topping their pool to set up an Elimination round tie tomorrow morning against Kirkham Grammar School, who have taken their form to Rosslyn Park for sure, topping a tricky pool B that included Llandovery College in style.

Last year’s runners up, John Fisher, only just squeaked through as the best runners up after they finished second behind Coleg y Cymoedd in Group P.

Fisher now face the other top runner up, St Joseph’s College, who finished behind Merchiston Castle in Pool D in bizarre circumstances. The two sides met in the final game of the group, but suddenly realizing that both were going through, St Joseph’s started to let Merchiston score, believing that finishing as runners up would give them a potentially easier draw tomorrow. Merchiston as winners will play Pool C winners Brighton College.

Hampton played some fine rugby to top a very tricky Pool E that also included Warwick and Solihull, their reward is a very tough elimination game indeed, against Coleg Sir Gar, who ousted the 2014 Festival Holders Bedford in Pool F.

Hartpury College made light work of Pool H, dominating their group to finish top and will play Pool G winners Bryanston, who kept the likes of St Benedict’s at bay.

Many people’s hot favourites for the title are Wellington College, and they certainly looked like they were in the mood to go all the way as they soared to the top of Group I. They look strong favourites in the next round too, where they face London Oratory, who kept out two schools with great reputations in Worcester 6^th form College and former winners Whitgift.

Cowbridge and Sherborne topped K and L and will meet tomorrow, both will be thinking that they have a shot at mounting a real challenge now.

The Plate final last year and the full final the year before were contested by Woodhouse Grove and Sedbergh and they will meet once again at Rosslyn park tomorrow in the elimination round after they topped Groups M and N respectively. Sedbergh will probably be favourites but these two have plenty of history here to fight over.

Finally then to Groups O and P, which were topped by St Paul’s Catholic College, the only AASE side besides Hartpury to qualify, and Coleg y Cymoedd, who forced John Fisher into second.

Tomorrow should be an intriguing day. Once the elimination round is done, the winners go into 3 Cup quarter final pools, with the winners of those plus the best runner up forming the semi finals. The Plate will run along the same lines but with the losers from the elimination round.

It certainly looks like being a high quality day of rugby!

Girls

The Girls tournaments also take place tomorrow. There is an eight team AASE tournament, as well as a twenty team Open tournament, both of which ought to see plenty of high quality action on what is always one of the favourite days of the tournament for many, with so many of the games being accessible to watch given the reduced number of fixtures.

Final Word

The final word on Day 4 must go to Stowe though, who were magnificent over the two days as they secured the HSBC Rosslyn Park National School 7s Festival title.

Day 4 Results/Day 5 Fixtures

Festival:

Cup Final: Stowe 15-12 Tonbridge

Plate Final: Cranleigh 19-10 Worth

Semi Finals Results:

Group 1: Stonyhurst 7-29 Stowe, Bedford Modern 24-5 Stonyhurst, Bedford Modern 7-25 Stowe

Group 2: Seaford 17-33 Tonbridge, Cheltenham 12-24 Tonbridge, Cheltenham 26-31 Seaford

Plate 1: Cranleigh 19-0 Prior Park, Prior Park 5-22 Royal Hospital School, Cranleigh 19-17 Royal Hospital School

Plate 2: Reed’s 12-14 Worth, King’s College Taunton 7-10 Reed’s, King’s College Taunton 12-31 Worth

OPEN RESULTS

Groups – Final Standings (Each group ordered by finishing positions, 1 to 5):

OPEN FIXTURES

Open Elimination Round:

Millfield (A) v Kirkham Grammar School (B) – RE1, 10.20

Brighton College (C) v Merchiston Castle (D) – RE2, 10.20

Hampton (E) v Coleg Sir Gar (F) – RE3, 10,20

Bryanston (G) v Hartpury College (H) – RE1, 10.40

Wellington College (I) v London Oratory (J) – RE2, 10.40

Cowbridge (K) v Sherborne (L) – RE3, 10.40

Sedbergh (M) v Woodhouse Grove (N) – RE1, 11.00

St Paul’s Catholic College (O) v Coleg y Cymoedd (P) – RE2, 11.00

John Fisher v St Joseph’s College – RE3, 11.00

Open Quarter Final Pools:

A – 10.20 Winners

B – 10.40 Winners

C – 11.00 Winners

Plate Quarter Final Pools:

A – 10.20 Losers

B – 10.40 Losers

C – 11.00 Losers

Open Semi Finals: 3 QF Winners & Best Runner Up

Plate Semi Finals: 3 QF Winners & Best Runner Up

Open & Plate Finals

Girls: