The Rosslyn Park HSBC Virtual 7s in association with NextGenXV kicked off today with the votes for the U11 and U13 Boys Competitions.
Hosted on the Rosslyn Park National School 7s Twitter Page, @RPNS7, the votes came flooding in throughout the day, with the U11 competition kicking the day off at 10am, before the U13s took over at 2pm.
With just 20 teams in the U11 draw it was a short, sharp, and intense U11 vote, but when the 139 team U13 competition rolled around things stepped up another notch, with tied votes, some games decided by single figure amounts, and an increasingly wide surge of support from the outside as schools started to march through the rounds.
U11s
St John’s, Beaumont where the stars of the show, dominating the U11 voting to reach the final against a popular Oakham U11 Group. Hopes of a close vote in the final were quickly dashed though, as St John’s pulled on the momentum they had built among their voters to take the U11 title with a stunning 76.8% of the vote.
Along the way they had out-voted some huge names in school rugby, heading a Group that included Bromsgrove, St Cedd’s, and Hampton, before beating Dulwich College and Terra Nova in the knockouts.
It was to prove quite the catalyst within the St John’s community for a real charge over the course of the afternoon…
U13s
That St John’s surge of support took them all the way to the U13 Final, where they came up against last Virtual U14 champions, Woodlands School, the former school of Tom Wood and Neil Back.
It resulted in an epic final, won by just a handful of votes. It was Woodlands that took it, denying St John’s the double, in the most dramatic fashion – coming from behind to take the U13 Rosslyn Park HSBC Virtual 7s in association with NextGenXV 50.4% to 49.6%.
The tension gave it almost a life-like feel as the second ticked down, the competition hanging in the balance the whole way.
As an opening gambit for the week’s action, it simply could not have been better.
Both sides in the final had to come past some bit names, Woodlands route saw them top a group containing Aysgarth, Lancaster RGS, and Newcastle School for Boys, before King’s Worcester, Monmouth, Haileybury, Welland Park, and, in an epic Semi Final, Millfield were all seen off.
St John’s meanwhile came through Group DD before a Phase 2 all St John’s group, featuring their namesakes from Northwood and Leatherhead. Up next came Clifton College, followed by Felsted, and a supremely well voted for Bishop’s Stortford High.
It all came together in the end for a spectacularly close final. Let’s hope the rest of the week brings more of the same!
Coming Up
Tuesday sees the U14s take over, a hotly contested competition in 2020, which saw Woodlands School secure the Virtual titles after beating Millfield in the final.
That could happen again tomorrow, they are on opposite sides of the draw, but there is a long way to go before we think of that. Voting opens at 10am on Twitter at @RPNS7 with 168 sides in the draw to begin with.
You can see our full U14 Preview here: U14 Preview – Rosslyn Park HSBC Virtual 7s in association with NexGenXV.
Make sure, also, that at 12.30pm and 4.30pm you tune into @rosslyn_park_school_7s on Instagram, at 12.30pm VEO are running a session on Insights and Analysis, while at 4.30pm long term charity partners SKRUM will be talking about what they do.
Check the Schedule for the Week here:
U14 Draw
| U14 Groups | |||||||
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
| Woodlands | Langley | Berkhamsted | Blundell’s | Bradford Grammar | Woodhouse Grove | Bristol Grammar | Bromsgrove |
| Truro School | Bedford | Ampleforth College | Durham | Eastbourne College | Eton College | Framlingham College | George Watson’s College |
| Uppingham | Birkenhead | Bedford Modern | Cathedral School, Llandaff | Woodbridge | Campion | Christ’s Hospital | Coopers’ Company & Coborn |
| Wycombe Abbey School, Changzhou | Ysgol Gyfun Gwent | Brynteg Comprehensive | Ysgol Greenhill | Cedars | Claires Court | Claremont Fan Court | Devonport High School |
| I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P |
| Brighton College | Cheltenham College | Clifton College | Dean Close | Denstone College | Dulwich College | Epsom College | Haileybury |
| Gordon’s | Hurstpierpoint College | Hymers College | Ipswich | KCS Wimbledon | KES Bath | King’s College, Taunton | King’s Macclesfield |
| Wycliffe College | Cwm Rhymni | Downside | Eltham College | Harrogate Grammar | Jumeirah English Speaking School | KES Birmingham | KES Southampton |
| Dubai College | Embley | Farlingaye High School | Grey Court | Haberdashers’ Abraham Darby | Haverfordwest High School | Hill House | Holyrood Academy |
| Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X |
| Hampton | Harrow | Ivybridge Community College | St Peter’s, York | Kirkham Grammar | Barnard Castle | Marlborough College | Merchiston Castle |
| King’s Worcester | Leicester Grammar | Loughborough Grammar | Malvern College | Mill Hill | Mount St Mary’s College | New Hall | Norwich |
| King’s Canterbury | King’s Ely | London Oratory | Mount Kelly College | Ysgol Gyfun Glantaf | Newcastle-Under-Lyme | Prior Park College | QEH, Bristol |
| Howard of Effingham | Ibstock Place | King Alfred School, An Academy | Kingsdale Foundation | Llangawtg | Lutterworth High School | Mary Immaculate High | Newport High |
| Y | Z | AA | BB | CC | DD | EE | FF |
| Northampton School for Boys | Oakham | Rugby | Radley College | RGS Newcastle | QEGS Wakefield | Sherborne | St John’s, Leatherhead |
| Oundle | Plymouth College | Pocklington | Portsmouth Grammar | Prince Henry’s Grammar | Reed’s | RGS Guildford | RGS Worcester |
| QES, Barnet | Shrewsbury | Simon Langton Grammar | Skinners’ | St George’s College, Weybridge | Wisbech Grammar | Stockport Grammar | Sutton Valence |
| Ysgol Plasmawr | Richard Challoner | Rodillian Academy | Scarisbrick Hall | Sidcot | St Cenydd | St James Senior Boys’ | St John Baptist Aberdare |
| GG | HH | II | JJ | KK | LL | MM | NN |
| Wellington College | Whitgift | St Paul’s | John Fisher | Stamford | Tonbridge | St Olave’s Grammar | Warwick |
| Royal Hospital School | Seaford College | Shiplake College | Solihull | St Ambrose College | St Benedict’s | St Edward’s, Oxford | Stowe |
| Wimbledon College | Taunton | The Leys | Worth | Whitchurch High | The Oratory, Reading | Torquay Boys’ Grammar | Wallington County Grammar |
| Stanwell | The Crypt | Toynbee | Uffculme | Waterloo School, Belgium | Welland Park Academy | Wellingborough | Weydon |
| OO | PP | Group Winners Qualify (42) | |||||
| St Joseph’s College | Millfield | ||||||
| Trinity | Bryanston | ||||||
| Windsor Boys’ | Churcher’s College | ||||||
| Ysgol Caer Elen | Birkdale |
Following the U14s on Tuesday, Wednesday sees the U16 Boys competition take place, before Girls Rugby Day on Thursday, which sees the U15 and U18 Girls competitions taking place. The Tournament then rounds off on Friday with the U18 Boys competition.
The draws for all of those can be found here:
What do I need to do?
Make sure that you are following @RPNS7 on Twitter as that is where all the voting will take place, and to get involved in some of the lunchtime and afternoon sessions and Q&As, make sure you are following @rosslyn_park_school_7s on Instagram.
Images by Photo-Fit
Full Schedule for the Week:
NextGenXV are working alongside the Alred Trophy, a competition designed to identify Britain & Ireland’s best young kicker. You can read all about it here: Alred Trophy All You Need To Know – and make sure that you head over to www.schoolofkicking.com to sign up for your chance to be crowned best young kicker!
