After a long, tough, year of rugby, the time for voting for your School Team of the Season has arrived.
It has been a superb season in many ways; perhaps the most open for a few years. Certainly many of the sides that we have become used to seeing dominate over the last few years appeared unusually vulnerable, and there were far fewer seemingly ‘invincible’ teams as schools at all levels produced some highly competitive displays.
The Champions Trophy, once again, was a thrilling few weeks of intense rugby, the NatWest Cup once again a grueling and exciting tournament. The St Joseph’s Festival, as ever, proved to be one of the best couple of days of the season, while the 7s season, though short, managed to produce some spectacular rugby, not least at Rosslyn Park.
From our perspective, it was a superb year to cover. School staff and Directors of Rugby were a pleasure to work with, while the engagement and support of players, parents, and old boys was superb as always. With that sort of platform, the possibilities for next year’s coverage become very exciting indeed, and we hope to bring newer, more exciting, and more engaging coverage than ever.
So to the vote. We have selected a shortlist of ten 1st XVs/VIIs, chosen by us with a little help from you on Twitter. The selection is a mixture of some of the best performing and trophy winning teams of the season, as well as a few schools who we feel have performed well and perhaps punched above their weight to an extent.
Of course there are some unlucky sides, for instance Stamford have extended their unbeaten home run to over five years now, but do not make the list. Similarly St Paul’s were outstanding but just missed out, so too Sedbergh, who provided some of the most exciting rugby of the season without a doubt, but just miss out too.
Here then is the shortlist, with just a quick explanation of their achievements:
Bedford – Unbeaten, Champions Trophy winners, RPNS7s Vase finalists.
Bromsgrove – Unbeaten, NatWest Cup back to back champions.
Clifton College Unbeaten despite playing on an incredibly tough South West circuit
Cranleigh – RPNS7s Champions.
Felsted – Punched well above their weight, so much so that they became many people’s favourites for RPNS7s Vase.
Hampton – St Joseph’s Festival Winners.
Harrow – RPNS7s Runners Up, won all of the big tournaments leading up to RPNS7s.
Kirkham Grammar School – Unbeaten, making it two years without defeat.
RGS High Wycombe – Sedbergh 10s winners, St Joseph’s Festival Finalists.
Wellington College – Back to back winners of the Daily Mail Trophy.
(If you are having trouble voting below, try using your mobile and switching wifi OFF.)
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