On Wednesday afternoon the NextGenXV Live Stream cameras will head to KCS Wimbledon to take in their U18 Schools Plate semi final against Caterham.

Kicking off at 2.15pm the winner will face either Stowe or Stockport Grammar School in the U18 Schools Plate final in a couple of weeks time, those two meet at Stowe at 3.10pm on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s game between KCS and Caterham promises to be a cracker, and you will be able to watch all of the action live on our YouTube channel or via the embedded stream below.

For whichever side wins it will be a first fifteen-a-side national schools final, and both will feel that they have a real chance after some wonderful rugby this season, including in this competition.

Plate Runs So Far:

*Henley College later disqualified for breach of regulations

The route for KCS has been fairly traditional, a big win over Emanuel was followed by a win over Langley Park, a walkover at Davenant, and then that excellent quarter final at Marlborough College.

For Caterham the road to this point has been punctuated by gaps, two byes in the opening two rounds before that 20-15 victory at Wimbledon College. They then faced Henley College in the quarter finals, a game that we live streamed and you can relieve below. Henley won 31-6, but have since been disqualified, meaning Caterham ended up progressing anyway. They are used to breaks and twists and turns and with a long gap since either of these two sides last played, that may work for them.

On the Henley College disqualification, it would be wrong to preview this game without addressing that elephant in the room. Despite requests from the RFU for information the only line currently is that they, and indeed Hills Road 6^th form College in the U18 Bowl, have “been disqualified from the Schools Cup competitions due to a breach in the competition’s regulations.”

Anything further without official confirmation would just be speculation and rumour at this point in time, however rumour and speculation are increasingly becoming the only means of spreading info on the schools and age-grade international game currently as the communication strategy from the RFU at these levels continues to come across as highly, and needlessly, secretive. Post-cuts staffing shortages have undoubtedly made communication outwardly much more challenging at the RFU, but when information is not forthcoming, nor indeed reasons for it not being forthcoming, despite requests, that excuse no longer washes. It is time for serious change.

That should not detract from matters on the field though, and Wednesday afternoon is going to be a magnificent occasion. KCS Wimbledon have enjoyed one of their finest seasons in a long time. They have lost just twice, and to top class opposition, Hampton in the first round of the Cup (which was the result that sent KCS to the Plate), and to Trinity in early November – whose form has been so impressive that they are in Sunday’s Schools Cup semi final against Sherborne.

Besides those two, it has all been rosy for KCS this year, led by prop Kasper Pitblado. Twelve victories from their fourteen games, including passing the 50 point mark five times in total, against Reed’s, London Oratory, St George’s, Emanuel, and Tiffin. As a result they reached our Top 5 School Teams of the Weekend on three occasions, Weeks 1, 3, and 5, you can watch/listen to those Top 5s below.

The key for KCS though has been that when the pressure has come in they have delivered. After that Hampton defeat they had to bounce back quickly for arguably their two key games of the season – both away – great rivals Wimbledon College and the superb Cranleigh, each within 10 days of that Hampton game. They won both, passing that huge test and cementing themselves as a top side this year. Then in December they repeated a similar trick, a 33-19 defeat of St John’s and four days later a crucial victory at Marlborough College, 17-12 in the Schools Plate quarter final that has took them to this semi final.

On the surface then, it’s an almighty challenge for Caterham, whose season has been good but not quite as spectacular as KCS Wimbledon’s, with seven victories from their thirteen games, including a 28-19 victory over Hurstpierpoint College that our live cameras took in on a late November’s Friday evening, highlights of that game can be seen below.

That victory is part of a five game winning streak for Caterham, who are unbeaten since the 14^th November, and in the likes of Enzo Pedersen possess some players that are capable of turning a game on its head in an instant. Both sides here have reason to believe that they can go all the way to the final.

The two sides share four common opponents, Hurstpierpoint College, Emanuel, Wimbledon College, and St George’s College Weybridge. KCS have beaten all four, indeed against St George’s and Emanuel they were utterly dominant. Caterham meanwhile have beaten Hurstpierpoint and Wimbledon College, but drew with Emanuel and lost to St George’s. That suggests an edge for KCS, who reached the Cup quarter finals last time these competitions were played back in the 2018/19 season. However a deeper look reveals similar scorelines against Hurstpierpoint, and covid disruption through the last term has to be considered, and in historical terms Caterham have the best recent history in games between the two. Between 2013 and 2018 they faced each other every year, KCS won in 2013, ’14, ’15, and ’16 but Caterham turned the tide in 2017 and in 2018 they stormed away to a 33-0 victory.

More pertinently though, this is knockout rugby, anything can happen and it has been a long time since either of these two sides has played competitive fifteen-a-side rugby, whoever gets out of the blocks fastest will have a strong chance.

It’s going to be an absolute cracker!

Team News:

KCS Wimbledon

15 Hugo Plat, 14 Joe Mondadori, 13 Liam MacDonald (vc), 12 James Taylor, 11 Philippe Vercuil, 10 Drew Bone, 9 Harrison Heatley, 1 Charlie Gilchrist, 2 Bruno Bandiera-Freire, 3 Kasper Pitblado (c), 4 Seth Eley, 5 Finn O’Hare, 6 Hugo Nicholls, 7 Cameron MacAlpine, 8 Dirk Pitblado.

Replacements: Xavier Cooke, Luke Dale, George Woods, Sonny Dhillon.

Caterham

15 Austin Taylor, 14 Louie Heaton-Armstrong, 13 Ethan Whenman, 12 Fraser Bailey (vc), 11 Josh Baker, 10 Enzo Pederson (c), 9 Max Fry, 1 William Baker, 2 Harry Hudson, 3 Joshua Campbell, 4 Skyler Bennett, 5 Fred Oliver, 6 Robert Hunter, 7 Josh Benjamin, 8 Harry Pluck.

Replacements: Joe Phillips, Edward Daniell, Reuben Andriesz, Lucca Gaudoin, Cam MacDonald, Conor Greer, Jonny Naylor.