While the eyes of much of the rugby world were on Cardiff, Paris, and Rome this weekend, there was still plenty of exciting school rugby to focus on.
With rugby on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, it was a packed weekend of school rugby, not to mention the U18 Academy League and ISRFC Lambs fixtures.
Five to Watch
There were some cracking fixtures in our Five to Watch, in form King’s Macclesfield notched up another strong win, beating a good Solihull side 10-5.
There was another close top quality contest over at Loughborough Grammar School, where Old Swinford Hospital beat their host 18-12.
John Fisher picked up a superb away win against old rivals RGS High Wycombe, a superb way for them to finish their fifteen-a-side season.
Warwick’s preparations for the Schools Cup semi final against Whitgift continue to go well. They are unbeaten in 2018 and continued that brilliant run on Saturday with an away win over Sir Thomas Rich’s. It was not just a win though, it was a dominant 35-0 victory that should keep them full of confidence.
One of the headline fixtures of the weekend was St Joseph’s College v Campion, a fixture with plenty of recent history behind it. Campion have been in flying form all season, and they showed that once again with a quite outstanding 17-0 win over in Ipswich.
Around the Grounds
The weekend’s school action began on Friday night, where City of London Freemen’s beat Glyn by an impressive 19-0 scoreline.
On Saturday there were some cracking games, including a thriller at Bishop Vesey’s, where Welbeck were 24-21 winners. King Henry VIII Coventry were also on the right end of the result in a cracking game against Repton, winning 29-18.
Up in Scotland Stewart’s Melville beat Ediburgh Academy 26-12, while George Heriot’s were impressive 45-22 winners over Glasgow Academy. Wellington School meanwhile secured a tight 17-14 win over Dollar Academy.
Dartford Grammar School’s excellent 2018 continued with a strong 26-13 win over Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar, while Coopers’ Coborn enjoyed a thumping 52-17 victory at Brentwood and St George’s Harpenden were 28-14 winners against Tiffin.
Caterham were in excellent form too, facing Argentine tourists Belgrano, they turned in an excellent performance for a 14-0 win.
Sunday 7s
On Sunday the attention turned to 7s with two massive tournaments, the Shiplake 7s at Shiplake College and the South Coast 7s at Portsmouth Grammar School.
Over at Shiplake it was Cheltenham College that emerged victorious, the side that went through the fifteen-a-side season unbeaten showing that their form translates across to the short form of the game. Down at Portsmouth Grammar School it was Brighton College that took the spoils, beating the excellent Wellington College in the final and also sealing the player of the tournament award for Alfie Beadle in the process.
You can see our roundups for both competitions via the links below:
As always, if you have any videos, photos, or reports from the weekend’s rugby, please feel free to send them in via Twitter (@FifteenRugbyXV), Facebook (www.facebook.com/FifteenRugby), Instagram (@fifteenrugbyxv), or through email (writers@fifteenrugby.com).
Schools Rugby Weekend Results:
Five to Watch
King’s Macclesfield 10-5 Solihull
Loughborough GS 12-18 Old Swinford Hospital
RGS High Wycombe 5-18 John Fisher
Sir Thomas Rich’s 0-35 Warwick
St Joseph’s College 0-17 Campion
Friday
City of London Freemen’s 19-0 Glyn
Saturday
Bishop Vesey’s GS 21-24 Welbeck
Brentwood 17-52 Coopers’ Coborn
Caterham 14-0 Belgrano (Argentina)
Chislehurst & Sidcup GS 13-26 Dartford GS
Glasgow Academy 22-45 George Heriot’s
King Henry VIII, Coventry 29-18 Repton
Stewart’s Melville 26-12 Edinburgh Academy
St George’s Harpenden 28-14 Tiffin
Wellington School, Ayr 17-14 Dollar Academy
Sunday
Shiplake 7s – Cheltenham College
South Coast 7s – Brighton College
