It was a day celebrating Girls Rugby at the Rosslyn Park HSBC Virtual 7s in association with NextGenXV on Thursday.

The day kicking off with a welcome message from England legend Maggie Alphonsi, before the U15 Girls tournament took over for the morning. At lunch time we had a special interview as commentator, quizmaster, and lockdown legend Nick Heath, a Women’s Sports Alliance ambassador, spoke to England star Rachael Burford, the founder of Girls Rugby Club on @rosslyn_park_school_7s, the Rosslyn Park 7s Instagram page.

That led us into an intense afternoon of voting on @RPNS7, the Rosslyn Park 7s Twitter page, as the U18 Girls competition took place, combining the U18 Girls AASE and U18 Girls Cup into one super competition, and it certainly lived up to expectations!

The day followed a week on intense voting on @RPNS7, that had seen St John’s Beaumont and Woodlands respectively crowned U11 and U13 Champions on Monday, before Stanwell claimed the U14 title on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, it was the U16s and a thrilling tournament that was eventually won by Bishop Wordsworth’s.

You can see the week’s full schedule here:

U15 Girls

The U15 Girls have never had a ‘live’ Rosslyn Park 7s experience, 2020 was supposed to be the first and 2021 the second, but both have had to be virtual.

Nevertheless, the turnout to vote on @RPNS7 was strong and the 12-team competition kicked things off brilliant on Girls Rugby Day. There were four groups in the opening stage, with the winners heading straight to the semi finals.

As it turned out, there were four teams that were clearly looking popular as Reigate Grammar School, Ysgol Gyfun Glantaf, Samuel Ryder Academy, and St John’s Leatherhead pouncing early to claim their semi final spots.

Things were tight in the Reigate Grammar v Glantaf semi final, Reigate Grammar School just edging it, but on the other side of the draw Samuel Ryder Academy showed their hand as a huge voting block emerged.

Heading into the final against Reigate Grammar it soon became clear that the Samuel Ryder Academy momentum was simply to strong to contain as they stormed to an impressive victory with 61.5% of the vote to claim the U15 Girls Title at the Rosslyn Park HSBC Virtual 7s in association with NextGenXV.

U18 Girls

As it turned out, the U15 competition was the perfect appetiser to what was to become a huge main event in the afternoon as the U18 Girls competition took off. Over the course of five social media fuelled hours 48 girls teams from the amalgamated Cup and AASE competitions where whittled down to just one winner, Loughborough College.

That barely scratches the surface of what happened though, as the competition exploded into life following the group stages that had seen 16 teams qualify for the first knockout round. We should have known it would get tasty, Millfield had turned around a big deficit with just seconds remaining against Dyffryn Aman to make the Last 16 while Hartpury College would require a coin toss to get past Coleg y Cymoedd.

The last 16 was proving equally tight, St John’s Leatherhead requiring a coin toss to get past Ivybridge Community College. There was a sense of tension across the competition and a buzz across social media as votes came flying in on Twitter, @RPNS7, along with supporting GIFs and photos.

The competition really started to come to a head in the semi finals as Bishop Wordsworth’s took on Llandovery College, having overcome Hartpury College and RGS Worcester to get there, Llandovery meanwhile had seen off strong challengers in Clifton College and St John’s Leatherhead.

On the other side Loughborough College, who had knocked out both Sweden Women and Oundle en route to facing a Millfield side that were utterly resurgent after their Group stage close shave, seeing off huge names in the form of Exeter College and Epsom College.

Twitter went into overdrive, as the rest of the competition took a chance to take in Rachael Burford’s interview with Nick Heath on Girls Rugby over on Instagram, @rosslyn_park_school_7s, these four were rallying voters at pace on Twitter, @RPNS7.

It went the way of Bishop Wordsworth’s and Loughborough College, sending them to the final and pitting seasoned Girls Rugby side Loughborough College up against a Bishop Wordsworth’s side that would have been playing in their first ever tournament this year, but who were gunning for back to back Virtual victories having won the U16 boys competition on Wednesday.

The final was a nail biter, with never more than a few percent in it. However as the clock ticked towards the close Loughborough College had the edge, and held onto it for a 56% to 44% victory – with a staggering 575 votes in the final.

An epic final finishing an epic day, and thanks really must go to all the schools for getting so involved and helping to make Girls Rugby Day all that the team behind the scenes had hoped for.

Coming Up

Friday is the final day of the Rosslyn Park HSBC Virtual 7s in association with NextGenXV and it’s a big one, the U18 Boys, the flagship competition of the Rosslyn Park 7s. To add a bit of extra spice, for the first time ever the U18 Cup and the U18 Vase have been merged together, giving us a whopping 224 team tournament.

That means that there are two reigning virtual champions in the draw, Kirkham Grammar School, who won the Virtual Cup in 2020 and St Olave’s Grammar, who won the Virtual Vase. Kirkham are in Group A alongside King’s Macclesfield, Queen Ethelburga’s, and Leicester Grammar School’s Headmaster’s VII, while St Olave’s are in Group DDD, which includes Wimbledon College, New Hall, and Royal Alexandra & Albert School.

You can see our full preview for the U18 Competition here: Rosslyn Park HSBC Virtual 7s in association with NextGenXV – U18 Boys Preview.

Voting will open at 10am on Twitter, @RPNS7, before a break at lunchtime where Coach Logic and Cameron Redpath, the Bath and Scotland star that won the Rosslyn Park 7s with Sedbergh in 2018, will be on the Rosslyn Park 7s Instagram, @rosslyn_park_school_7s. 

It’s back to Twitter and @RPNS7 after that for the knockout rounds in the U18 Boys competition, after which Nick Heath will be going live to close the tournament and celebrate all the champions and everyone that voted.

U18 Boys Draw

What’s been happening?

All week competitions have been running at the various age-groups, beginning with the U11s and U13s back on Monday, where St John’s Beaumont almost claimed a double, only to be pipped in the U13 final by Woodlands.

U11 & U13 Roundup

Then on Tuesday the U14s were in action, some big names fell by the wayside and it was a Stanwell side that built up huge voting momentum to take the U14 title on a thrilling day.

U14 Roundup

Wednesday saw just about the most intense and nervous of voting days of all as the U16 tournament rolled in. There were big names falling, surprise candidates, last second turnarounds, and huge number of voters, building up to a Bishop Wordsworth’s v St Peter’s York final, won by Bishop Wordsworth’s with over 600 votes cast. There was also a chat with Northampton Saints’ James Grayson, a Perform Better ambassador, which you can see here: James Grayson chats to NextGenXV for Rosslyn Park 7s.

U16 Roundup

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, Loughborough College, Bishop Wordsworth’s, Samuel Ryder Academy

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!