It is fairly safe to say that Saturday was an extraordinary day of schools rugby, there were some huge scores, some surprise results, and stunning performances.
Many of our predictions finished up well wide of the mark as schools around the country came up with quite brilliant performances.
Prediction Competition
We begin our roundup of the results with a look at our five Daily Mail Trophy prediction competition results, and what a set of five results they were.
Ampleforth College stunned us by beating Grammar School at Leeds 52-0, Ampleforth are traditionally strong, but GSAL were Champions Trophy finalists last year, while Ampleforth were not on that level. They certainly made their point on Saturday though, what a result for Lawrence Dallaglio’s old school.
No less impressive was Bromsgrove’s stunning 54-0 victory over Warwick. Theoretically this should have been close, Warwick’s first XV yeargroups both won the U15 NatWest Cup, while Bromsgrove are the U18 holders. Warwick were admittedly understrength yesterday, but Bromsgrove deserve huge credit – they will have made the entire schools rugby community sit up and take note yesterday.
Dulwich College will have too. They faced the mighty Wellington College, with their six internationals in tow, it was a game that almost everyone would have predicted they might lose, valiantly yes, but probably just miss out. How wrong the majority, and us, were. As we said in our preview though, Sam Howard always has a plan for his Dulwich boys and how well that plan paid off as they secured a truly brilliant 27-12 victory. With the Champions Trophy looming next week, that result will have their odds of winning it soaring.
Trinity were also impressive, their recent rise has made the traditional Croydon derby of Whitgift v John Fisher a genuine three-way derby now, with the first of those their away game against John Fisher. Trinity certainly proved the point, winning 32-24. They are a side few will want to face.
The final prediction competition game was Oundle v Stamford. Oundle were NatWest Cup semi finalists last year and one of the best teams in the country, likewise Stamford, who were unbeaten in the regular season.
That will not be the case for them this year though as Oundle used their cauldron of a 1st XV pitch excellently to win 31-13 against their local rivals, an excellent result.
Previewed Games
As ever, we also previewed five selected fixtures across the country, and the results in those were no less fascinating.
Perhaps the most stunning result of the entire weekend was Bradford Grammar School’s 85-0 victory over Hymers College. It was simply sensational. Based on last year’s form, this should have been even enough. How wrong we were. A terrific result for Bradford Grammar, which will have their next opponents worrying.
Bryanston got off to an excellent start, beating Marlborough College 24-8 at home, a good start ahead of their Champions Trophy game against Millfield in midweek.
The Wimbledon derby saw KCS Wimbledon perform excellently one again as they beat Wimbledon College 29-3, their third win from three this season.
Monmouth bounced back after defeat to Sherborne last weekend, beating a good Cheltenham College side 39-17. Oddly though, the game was level at 17-17 at the break before Monmouth ran away in the second half.
Another extraordinary result saw Bedford beat Uppingham, in Uppingham, by a stunning 82-12. Bedford were favourites, certainly, but nobody could have predicted that they would win by such a superb margin. How both sides move on from this result will be very interesting to see.
Other Key Results
There were plenty of impressive results elsewhere too, Berkhamsted proved their pre-season form was true with a 38-14 win over a good Abingdon side, while Millfield started off with a win, 31-7 over Canford.
Brighton College started with a bang, they secured a brilliant 52-0 win away at Hurstpierpoint College. Harrow were also in form, a 39-3 home win over Felsted opening their account nicely.
Clifton College were in good scoring form, beating King’s College Taunton 62-13, though their scoring could not quite match Reigate Grammar School’s stunning 70-0 against Christ’s Hospital. Look out for Reigate this season.
Kirkham Gramamr School were looking just as impressive as last year as they smashed Sandbach 53-7, while Stowe put Oakham to the sword with a 29-0 win on Oakham territory.
Sedbergh were in the mood to make a statement as they secured a 62-3 victory over Cranbrook, Sir Thomas Richs too, they beat QEH 30-9. Tonbridge were in Sedbergh-esque form, beating Eastbourne College 61-5.
A couple of closer games saw Solihull just edge out King’s Worcester 8-6, and St Edward’s Oxford beating Rugby 10-6. Cranleigh meanwhile beat a very good St John’s Leatherhead side 45-12, a big statement indeed.
All in all it was a superb day of rugby, one full of excitement and stunned disbelief at times as the sheer size of some of the scorelines coming in. Selecting our top 5 teams of the weekend will be no easy task this week.
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Saturday Results:
Daily Mail Trophy Prediction Competition
Ampleforth College 52-0 Grammar School at Leeds
Bromsgrove 54-0 Warwick
Dulwich College 27-12 Wellington College
John Fisher 24-32 Trinity
Oundle 31-13 Stamford
Previewed Games
Bradford GS 85-0 Hymers College
Bryanston 24-8 Marlborough College
KCS Wimbledon 29-3 Wimbledon College
Monmouth 39-17 Cheltenham College
Uppingham 12-82 Bedford
Other Key Games
Adams GS 3-58 Denstone College
Altrincham GS 24-7 Cheadle Hulme
Ashville College 0-20 Pocklington
Aylesbury GS 8-13 Campion
Barnard Castle 50-12 Dame Allan’s
Berkhamsted 38-14 Abingdon
Bishop’s Stortford College 24-21 Royal Hospital School
Bishop’s Stortford HS 17-22 St Joseph’s College
Bishop Vesey’s GS 19-24 Trent College
Bloxham 15-5 Magdalen College
Bristol GS 10-44 Blundell’s
Canford 7-31 Millfield
Caterham 17-5 City of London Freemen’s
Chislehurst & Sidcup GS 59-3 Maidstone GS
Churcher’s College v Dauntsey’s – Still to come
Dean Close 5-16 RGS Worcester
Downside 17-18 Queen’s Taunton
Ellesmere College 29-0 Old Swinford Hospital
Eltham College 0-52 Judd
Gunnersbury 7-28 Tiffin
Haileybury 26-11 Bedford Modern
Harrow 39-3 Felsted
Hurstpierpoint College 0-52 Brighton College
KES Aston 31-8 Bablake
KES Bath v Kingswood – Still to come
KES Southampton 49-10 Halliford
King’s College Taunton 13-62 Clifton College
King’s Macclesfield 8-3 Manchester GS
Kirkham GS 53-7 Sandbach
Merchant Taylors 20-7 St Albans
Newcastle Under Lyme School v Stockport GS – Still to come
Oakham 0-29 Stowe
Pangbourne College 5-17 Seaford College
Pate’s GS 20-26 Malvern College
Perse 15-5 New Hall
Portsmouth GS 19-12 Lord Wandsworth College
Princethorpe College 42-15 Ratcliffe College
Prior Park 10-27 Colston’s
QEGS Wakefield 8-8 RGS Lancaster
QES 15-52 Mill Hill
Reading Blue Coat 35-21 Shiplake College
Reigate GS 70-0 Christ’s Hospital
RGS Guildford 5-40 Hampton
RGS High Wycombe 38-0 Northampton School for Boys
Sedbergh 62-3 Wilmslow HS
Sevenoaks 5-9 Cranbrook
Sherborne 15-0 Radley College
Silcoates v Crossley Heath – Cancelled
Sir Thomas Rich’s 40-9 QEH
Skinners’ 57-3 Langley Park
Solihull 8-6 King’s Worcester
St Edward’s Oxford 10-6 Rugby
St George’s Weybridge 0-28 Reed’s
St John’s Leatherhead 12-45 Cranleigh
St Paul’s 12-24 Epsom College
St Olave’s GS 7-26 Wallington CGS
Stonyhurst 17-8 Mount St Mary’s
Tonbridge 61-5 Eastbourne College
Whitgift 37-0 Bishop Wordsworth’s
Woodhouse Grove 35-3 St Peter’s York
Workshop College 7-41 Nottingham HS
Worth 8-34 King’s Canterbury
Wrekin College 41-7 KES Birmingham
Friday
Durham 16-15 RGS Newcastle
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