Top 5 Teams of the Weekend

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Following a brilliant opening weekend of the school season, it is time for us to pick our Top 5 Teams of the weekend.

These teams could be teams who have put in an excellent performance, scored lots of tries, won against the odds, or whose results have simply just impressed us.

Of course on the opening weekend of the season these things are a little harder to judge, there is no form guide so reputation and pre-season results are all that there is to judge by.

Nevertheless, here are our Top 5 Teams of the weekend – let us know what you think.

Epsom College

It was a monstrous opening fixture for Epsom College, a home fixture against a Tonbridge side led by the indomitable Ben Earl. Tonbridge performed well last year and arguably should be even better this year. Epsom College were excellent last year too, but in losing some top school players over the summer, Archie White chief among them, this was a start to the season high on pressure.

A 19-10 victory was therefore very impressive from the Epsom XV, starting against a top class opponent is never easy so they will be delighted with their win and will be eyeing up a tilt at the Champions Trophy this year after their shock exit to Oakham last year.

Sherborne

An away trip to Monmouth on the first weekend of the season was never going to be an easy task for the Dorset men, Monmouth were one of the top sides in the country last year, hence their shortlisting for the National Rugby Awards School Team of the Year. Indeed they only lost to one school all year, Hampton in the NatWest Cup.

So the scale of Sherborne’s task was huge, add in to that the fact that they were perhaps not as sharp as we expected last year, or until Rosslyn Park anyway, and their task only got harder.

They showed that they are very much a force again this year though with an excellent 24-12 victory away in Wales, and ensured that they will be a side that people will very much be keeping an eye on through the early part of this season.

Sir Thomas Rich’s

After a barnstorming 2013/14 season for Sir Thomas Rich’s, 2014/15 was slightly quieter. Therefore what they produced on Saturday came as quite a surprise, particularly as it came against a Kingswood side who last year were outstanding, picking up victories against some big schools.

That said, Kingswood have lost many of those stars, and Tommies wasted no time at all in putting them to the sword, winning by a staggering 67-0 margin to announce themselves on the 2015/16 school season as major players – this was a Kingswood side that they beat who finished thirteenth in the Daily Mail Trophy last year, and impressive win for sure.

Solihull

After losing to RGS High Wycombe in midweek, Solihull would have felt that it was vital to their season that they get back on track fast at the weekend. The problem was that they had to make an away trip to Rugby, who have recruited well, and in a World Cup year that will see them get plenty of media focus, they are determined to perform well.

Solihull dealt with all of that though, and got themselves right back on track with a 17-10 victory, a win that certainly deserves plenty of praise both for it’s achievement and the determination to get it.

Warwick

There is a fair bit of pressure on Warwick this year. Both their U6th and L6th won the U15 NatWest Cup. Having one yeargroup of U15 winners tends to point to 1st XV success, having two surely points even more so in that direction.

So they know that they are expected to achieve, and what you would imagine they would have liked would be a nice gentle opener. Instead what they got was Dulwich College, the 2012, 2013, and 2014 NatWest Cup Champions, who crushed Warwick in the 2014 final, and also reached the 2015 final. About as far from an easy start as it gets.

Warwick held their composure though, and battled to a narrow and hard fought 8-7 victory. It perhaps was not pretty, but Warwick this year are dealing in results, and that result will be very, very, well received.

Do you agree with our Top 5 Teams of the weekend? Let us know via Twitter, Facebook, or via promotions@fifteenrugby.com – If you have any photos, videos, match reports, or other contributions from the weekend, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

 

 

By Angus Savage

@AngusSavageXV

SHARING IS CARING!
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