The weekend may have been dominated from a coverage perspective by the St Joseph’s Festival, but there was still plenty of exciting rugby happening elsewhere.
A few schools had already gone away for the half term break, but plenty remained and put on quite the show.
Our coverage from the St Joseph’s Festival can be seen here – St Joseph’s Festival 2016 – our weekend roundup will focus solely on the other games from around the country.
Focus On
As has been the case all term, our Focus On fixtures certainly entertained, perhaps none more so than a thrilling encounter between Bristol Grammar and Clifton College. Both came in having played brilliantly all term but after suffering disappointment in midweek after being knocked out of the Champions Trophy. They put on a brilliant show on Saturday though, with Clifton running out as 30-24 winners.
Sedbergh showed their class yet again as they solidified their second place in the Daily Mail Trophy table with an excellent 37-7 win over old rivals Barnard Castle.
It was much closer on a wet and windy day in the South West, where two of the most promising sides on the circuit met, Blundell’s and Canford. The game was incredibly close, with Canford just edging out their hosts for a 6-3 victory.
There was a great West Yorkshire derby as Bradford Grammar School picked up a narrow 17-13 win over rivals Grammar School at Leeds, a victory that will certainly have gone down well with the home support.
There was another tight one in the Midlands, Bromsgrove winning an important and tough battle against Stowe as they look to continue their recovery form a sloppy start to the season, winning 7-3 against an excellent opposition.
Along the road to Oxford, where Cheltenham College recorded an impressive away win over St Edward’s, securing a 17-10 victory to send them into half term full of confidence.
There was a huge game in the South East as the underreported Eastbourne College travelled to St John’s Leatherhead, who have been highly impressive this year. Eastbourne battled hard and made the game a really tough one for their hosts, but St John’s battled through for a strong 32-14 victory.
Warwick continued to show their class with a superb 43-12 victory at Stamford on Saturday. The Midlands side are looking like on of the very best on the circuit so far this year. Whitgift v Chislehurst & Sidcup was cancelled as they have a Cup tie against each other coming up.
Around the Grounds
Elsewhere there were some stunning performances, Durham in particular were mightily impressive as they beat Ampleforth College 41-0, while Hymers College recorded an excellent 57-11 win over Ashville College.
Reading Blue Coat kept their impressive early season form up with a 27-0 win over Churcher’s College, while Cranbrook did well to keep a very good Judd side in check, Judd winning 20-15.
Dean Close were in fine form v Taunton with a 43-12 win, so too Downside, who beat Christ College 30-15, while RGS Lancaster picked up a good 22-5 win over Giggleswick.
Felsted continued their impressive week, making it three wins from three as they beat a strong Berkhamsted side 25-11. There was similar excitement in the South West, where KES Bath beat Bryanston for the first time since 2003, winning 29-19 for a famous victory.
Portsmouth Grammar School secure arguably the most impressive winning margin of the weekend as they defeated Magdalen College 68-5, while The Oratory’s 42-12 effort v Lord Wandsworth College was also highly impressive.
Dean Close 43-12 Taunton.
Shiplake College and Monmouth secured good wins over Mill Hill and Malvern College respectively, while Prior Park beat QEH 38-0. There was good news for Sandbach too, they beat Wilmslow 25-18.
Reed’s were back on form with an excellent 22-7 win over a confident Caterham side, while local rivals St George’s Weybridge also won, beating Campion 20-7.
St Peter’s York grabbed one of the finest wins of the day as they saw off St Ambrose College by an sublime 53-5 scoreline.
Friday
Friday also saw some great action as Robert Clack beat Wisbech Grammar 22-26. The big game of the day though was the huge top end clash beatween Abingdon and Kirkham Grammar. Kirkham won it 35-12, but that far from tells the story of this incredibly high level encounter. It was just 13-12 heading into the final quarter, but a trip of late Kirkham tries sealed it for the North West side, who are really looking like of the best sides in the country once again.
You can see photo from the weekend’s school rugby in our this gallery: Gallery – Schools Rugby, Saturday 15th October.
If you have any photos, videos, or reports from the weekend’s schools rugby, please do send them in via email (writers@fifteenrugby.com ), Facebook (www.facebook.com/FifteenRugby ), or via Twitter (@FifteenRugbyXV).
Schools Rugby Weekend Fixtures (predictions in bold):
Focus On:
Barnard Castle 7-37 Sedbergh
Blundell’s 3-6 Canford
Bradford GS 17-13 Grammar School at Leeds
Bristol GS 24-30 Clifton College
Bromsgrove 7-3 Stowe
Eton College 12-22 Wellington College
St Edward’s Oxford 10-17 Cheltenham College
St John’s, Leatherhead 32-14 Eastbourne College
Stamford 12-43 Warwick
Whitgift v Chislehurst & Sidcup GS – Cancelled
Further Fixtures:
St Joseph’s Festival – Click for Details
Ampleforth College 0-41 Durham
Ashville College 11-57 Hymers College
Bablake 22-40 Wellingborough
Bishop’s Stortford College 21-11 New Hall
Bishop Vesey’s GS 13-7 Lawrence Sherriff
Churcher’s College 0-27 Reading Blue Coat
City of London Freemen’s 9-11 Halliford
Cranbrook 15-20 Judd
Dame Allan’s 40-7 King’s Priory
Downside 30-15 Christ College
Felsted 25-11 Berkhamsted
Giggleswick 5-22 RGS Lancaster
Glyn 7-17 Wallington CGS – NatWest Vase
Hereford Cathedral School 17-36 King Henry VIII Coventry
KES Bath 29-19 Bryanston
King’s Canterbury 10-33 Hurstpierpoint College
Liverpool College 33-8 Cheadle Hulme
Lord Wandsworth College 12-42 The Oratory
Mill Hill 10-22 Shiplake College
Monmouth 23-16 Malvern College
Portsmouth GS 68-5 Magdalen College
Prior Park College 38-0 QEH
Reed’s 22-7 Caterham
RGS Colchester 11-22 Aylesbury GS
Rydal Penrhos 43-30 Wirral GS
Sandbach 25-18 Wilmslow HS
Sir Thomas Rich’s 53-7 Old Swinford Hospital
St George’s College, Weybridge 20-7 Campion
St Peter’s York 53-5 St Ambrose
Tiffin 22-25 Wimbledon College
Wellington School 10-14 King’s College, Taunton
Friday:
Abingdon 12-35 Kirkham GS
Wisbech GS 26-33 Robert Clack
Still To Come:
Bishop’s Stortford HS v Ravens Wood
Exeter v Mount Kelly
Harrow v Brentwood
KES Birmingham v King Edward VI, Camp Hill
St Olave’s GS v Cooper’s Coborn
St Paul’s v London Oratory
Watford GS v St George’s, Harpenden
