This weekend saw the U18 and U15 Schools Cup and Vase semi finals take place at Sixways Stadium and Kendal RUFC.
While our live cameras were at the Colston’s 7s, which you can watch below, and we had boots on the ground at the North of England School 7s as well, fourteen schools were in action at Sixways over the weekend.
U18 Cup
The weekend was topped and tailed by the U18 Cup Semi Finals, on Friday night Barnard Castle and Kirkham Grammar School met at Kendal RUFC and an absolute classic broke out. It was a game that could have gone either way, and talking to both sets of players it seemed as though it felt that way on the field too.
In the end it was Kirkham that progressed to the final at Twickenham a week on Wednesday, winning 18-13 despite the most intense and nervous of final minutes as Barnard Castle, who have reached three finals before, pressed and pressed for victory. Kirkham held out though, and will now play in their first ever U18 Schools Cup final.
They will be facing Trinity, who put in yet another superb display in this tournament to win their semi final against Sherborne 29-12. It finished the weekend’s knockout action off in the final game at Sixways on Sunday, and what a way to end it was. Both sides threw everything at it, and Sherborne have every reason to be hugely proud after a tough season in which they have had to dig deeper than most. In the end though it was this top quality Trinity side that halted things for them, Trinity have been so good all year and capped it on Sunday in their 29-12 victory where, among others, fly half Conor Byrne was on utterly sensational form.
Kirkham Grammar v Trinity…it has all the makings of a classic!
U15 Cup
Preceding the Trinity v Sherborne game were the two U15 Cup semi finals and it was two Schools Cup ‘old guard’ sides, QEGS Wakefield and Wellington College, against two sides that had never before reached the final, Ipswich and Radley College.
QEGS have been reaching finals for decades in this competition, and they will be back for another after a thrillingly close victory over Ipswich, 22-19 saw them into the final where they will look to add to the title that they last won in 2015, which was their third final in a row.
Up against them will be Wellington College who were, in a word, outstanding against Radley College. A close game had been anticipated, but Wellington, being the clinical knockout experts that they are, were just on it from the word go as they pulled away to a 36-7 victory that takes them to a fourth final in six years and a chance to claim back the silverware they won in 2019.
Ipswich and Radley gave it their all and should rightly be proud, but ultimately it is those two giants, Wellington College and QEGS Wakefield that will meet in what should be an epic final.
U18 Vase
The Vase games all took place on Saturday and we were treated to two Vase semi finals that had a feel of a level far beyond that. We also saw some sensational performances, in particular from Mount St Mary’s College, who have been utterly brilliant all season, and yet few could have seen a performance of quite this level coming, especially against an Ipswich side that has been rocking the schools rugby world this year. It was stunning from Mount St Mary’s, who stormed to a 50-12 victory and a place at Twickenham. Ipswich will be back, they are going place, but on the day one simply had to applaud the efforts of Mount St Mary’s.
On the other side was another side that is definitely going places, Sutton Valence. They were up against a Reading Blue Coat side that we have live streamed through their last two games in this competition, each time impressing with their fast starts and strong finishes. Here though things went up a notch, and though Reading Blue Coat gave it their best, this outstanding Sutton Valence side, who were without star man Nathan Michelow due to England commitments, showed exactly why everyone has been so excited by them as they claimed a 29-8 victory and a place in the final.
U15 Vase
First, the easy part, all four teams in the U15 Vase quarter finals gave everything in two thrilling games of rugby and all four deserve to take huge credit for that and should look forward to the years of school rugby ahead of them.
Hitchin Boys will be heading to Twickenham after an absolute thriller against Sandbach that could have gone either way and both will rightly be feeling proud, but it was Hitchin that edged it 26-17 to reach the final.
They will be playing Torquay Boys Grammar, who progressed to the final after a 12-12 draw with Langley Park as a result of being designated as the ‘away side’. It was a brilliant contest, a credit to the school game and both should come away with real pride – and must do.
It was however, a farce of a situation. It is important to state that absolutely nothing is the fault of Torquay Grammar. They played brilliantly, and earned their place in the final according the rules as written. They should be proud and should be protected in the wake of the storm that has brewed – they have done nothing wrong, and deserve praise.
The competition organisers need to have a long and hard look at themselves though. This was a semi final at a neutral venue, there was no away side – despite one being designated. Yes, the rules were set out to all teams, yes they were in the programme, and yes they were applied, but that does not make them good rules, it does not make refusing to change them for future games right, and it does not making a lack of a public statement good.
Sometimes you get it wrong, and you have to hold your hands up and say sorry. That time has come for the competition organisers. This is not the first farce of this cup season, but let us hope it is the last. The boys of Langley Park deserve that and they deserve an apology.
It is simply illogical to use the ‘away side goes through’ method on a neutral ground, it’s barely logical on a non-neutral ground, especially when that neutral ground is not by virtue of a decision by the schools, but one by the organisers themselves.
“They knew beforehand”, “it’s in the programme”, or “the schedule won’t allow for a different method” are not good enough. It is hiding behind the truth. Just because nobody realised how bad something was until it happened, doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad.
Forget the petty politics, forget the staff, forget the parents, forget the media, forget ourselves, this is about the boys on both side. Torquay’s moment runs the first of being spoiled because of this farce, while Langley Park’s boys have needlessly been heartbroken.
There are so many options, ranging from extra time, to golden point, to last try scorer (or the slightly oddly more commonly used first try scorer), to drop goals, to penalty kicks, even to a simple coin toss. All are better than arbitrarily designating one team at a disadvantage before the game has even kicked off. None are perfect, but all are better.
To the organisers, we beg of you, make a statement, apologise, and change the rules as soon as possible – before the finals. To Torquay, do not let the noise ruin the moment, you were brilliant. And to Langley Park, the same, you were brilliant, hold your heads high, you could not have done more.
If you have any photos, video, reports, or any other content from the week’s rugby then please do send it in via our social media channels or admin@nextgenxv.com and if you are interested in us live streaming one of your games or an event then please do get in touch!
Don’t forget our Talent Hub is now live! Whether you are looking for talent or are a talent looking to be noticed sign up by clicking here.
Friday
Barnard Castle 13-18 Kirkham Grammar – U18 Cup SF
Saturday
Ipswich 12-50 Mount St Mary’s, College – U18 Vase SF
Langley Park 12-12 Torquay Boys’ Grammar – U15 Vase SF (Torquay through)
Sandbach 17-26 Hitchin Boys’ – U15 Vase SF
Sutton Valence 29-8 Reading Blue Coat – U18 Vase SF
Sunday
QEGS Wakefield 22-19 Ipswich – U15 Cup SF
Radley College 7-36 Wellington College – U15 Cup SF
Trinity 29-12 Sherborne – U18 Cup SF
