The 2017 Gullivers Sports Travel Surrey Senior 7s takes place on Wednesday at the Richmond Athletic Ground.

The tournament is one of the most prestigious and important on the entire calendar For those that enter, and that is most of the biggest names in the southern regions, it is the final chance to prepare for the HSBC Rosslyn Park National School 7s, and the class of the field gives it a prestige that few other tournaments can rival.

The list of previous winners goes only to prove that point, with Millfield, Wellington College, John Fisher, and SGS Filton College all multiple winenrs, indeed Millfield have won the competition an incredible 15 times since 1984.

40 schools will head to South West London on Wednesday 15^th March for the tournament, with the teams split into ten groups of four, following a few drop out from when the original draw was released a couple of weeks ago.

The ten group winners will then progress to the knockouts, with the six best runners up joining them, creating a last 16 round. The next 8 best placed Surrey affiliated teams will progress to the Surrey Plate.

Unfortunately last year’s tournament had to be cancelled due to horrific weather conditions, the first cancellation since 1980, surely a record for school 7s. That means that the reigning Champions are the 2015 winners, Wellington College. The schools rugby giants find themselves in Group B, where they will face former NatWest Cup champions, Dulwich College, NatWest Bowl semi finalists St Olave’s Grammar, and former Surrey Plate winners, Tiffin.

Harrow were probably favourites heading into last year’s competition, and they are fittingly in Group A. However Group A looks fiercely tough, they will face Campion, Wimbledon College, and a John Fisher side that always seems to turn up for the big tournaments.

Cranleigh would also have had a good crack last year, after all they ended up winning the HSBC Rosslyn Park National School 7s in style the following week. They are in Group I, where the will be confident of progression against Eltham College, St Benedict’s, and Weston College.

Cranleigh have been involved in some titanic tussles with Brighton College this year. The South Coast side are drawn in Group C where they will face the likes of UCS, an impressive St John’s Leatherhead side, and Haileybury, who won their own 7s competition a few weeks ago.

The winners of the Haileybury 7s were Whitgift. They reside in Group E and face some interesting opposition in the form of one of the top Welsh schools, Coleg Sir Gar, as well as London oratory and Berkhamsted.

Hampton claimed silverware at a couple of tournaments so far this season, they are Group D for the Gullivers Sports Travel Surrey 7s, where they must get past the likes of Wallington County Grammar, Reed’s, and Eton College.

Reed’s have also hosted a tournament, which was won by Seaford College. Seaford are in Group F in this competition, where they will face St Joseph’s College, their local rivals Hurstpierpoint College, and an Epsom College side who will strongly fancy their chances of making a mark.

The competition’s most successful side are, as earlier mentioned, Millfield. The 2014 champions face a tough Group H though, including Caterham and Peter Symonds’, as well as AASE side, Moulton College.

In Group G there are two AASE sides lurking, SGS Filton College, who have twice won this competition, and Beechen Cliff, who gave Wellington College a bit of a fright at the Canford 7s. Those two are joined by two very strong schools in RGS Guildford and KCS Wimbledon.

Finally to Group J, where the final AASE side lurks, Oaklands College, winner in 2013 when the likes of Nathan Earle and Nick Tompkins were starring for them. Lining up alongside them are Downside, Trinity, and Emanuel.

As it was in 2015, the competition will be live streamed, and there will be plenty of opportunity for players and supporters alike to get in the mood for it with the U16 and U14 tournaments both also being live streamed on the Monday and Tuesday ahead of the Senior tournament on Wednesday 15^th March, where all games on pitch 4 (the main pitch on the day) will be live streamed.

2017 Gullivers Sports Travel Surrey Senior 7s Draw: