This weekend sees one of the highlights of the schoolboy rugby calendar roar back into life as 2022’s edition of the St. Joseph’s Festival gets under way in Suffolk.
2021 had it all; penalty shootouts, a number of new emerging talents and a quintessential incredible attacking display from the boys donning the Blue Stripe, Millfield, running out as tournament winners to bring a record 7th De La Salle trophy back to Somerset. It truly was extraordinary, and to see more about it, the wider history of the Festival and those that have competed, and what to expect this year, head to our St Joseph’s Festival Preview.
Here we have a look at each of the sixteen teams competing this year with a quick team by team results roundup and predictions as to who will proceed from each group into the trophy quarter finals.
NextGenXV will be providing a stream for all the action across the weekend, alongside a roundup show at the end of each day to dig into the action properly. You can watch the live streams on our YouTube Channel, on Tik Tok, and the Day 1 Streams are embedded below.
Team by Team/Group by Group Guide
Group 1 – Denstone College, Dulwich College, Hurstpierpoint College, Wellington College
A fantastic group to get us going, containing two heavyweights historically in Wellington College and Dulwich College, and two sides who had great competitions in 2021 in Denstone College and Hurtpierpoint College. Once again, as it was last year, a tough one to predict.
Denstone College
Form-P5 W4 L1
Denstone College are back in Group 1 this year after a great showing in 2021 that saw them upset and knock out Kirkham, something that’ll inspire this year’s group onto similar heights. It has been a strong start to the season for the Staffordshire outfit bar a heart-breaking four-point loss to Ipswich School, that was quickly put behind them with strong outings against tough opposition in Mount St. Mary’s and Woodhouse Grove. Keep an eye out for skipper and England 18s back row George Perkins, who’ll no doubt have his boys revved up this weekend.
Festival Record: 4th 2022, Plate Champions 2015
Last Year: 4th
Dulwich College
Form P5 W0 L5
It hasn’t been the easiest start for Dulwich College this year. Five straight losses, four particularly tough ones to Harrow, Bedford, Trinity and Wellington. However, you’d be a fool to rule them out of the competition completely this weekend. You just have to look at the teams listed above to know they play on the strongest circuit around, and have a schoolboy pedigree which has brought them bundles of success over a long period of time. We’ll say it quietly for now, but be very aware of a wounded Dulwich College side up in Suffolk.
Festival Record: Champions 2011
Last Year: 7th
Hurstpierpoint College
Form P6 W3 L3
If we donned the red and white of Hurstpierpoint College we’d be fairly content with how the season has progressed as of far. Wins against two strong outfits in St. Johns and Skinners and a midweek Plate victory will give them a lot of confidence going into the festival, as will their outing last year, progressing out of a strong Group 3 to only be knocked out by eventual champions Millfield. Usually equipped with a sizeable pack and some useful back three speedsters, their style of play to an extent suits the short format of the tournament, and always renders them a threat. Wellington up first will set the tone in a monumental test on Saturday morning.
Festival Record: 8th 2022
Last Year: 8th
Wellington College
Form P5 W3 L2
NextGenXV covered the entirety of Wellingtons heartbreak last Saturday as they went down by three to Millfield at home, coming back into the game so well just not having enough to get over the line in the last few minutes in a classic battle of two schoolboy heavyweights. How will that mental blow affect the Berkshire based outfits confidence running into such a huge weekend? You still have to have them down as one of the favourites on paper, with a past De La Salle Trophy in the bank in 2019, and a shed-load of talent including England U18s fly half Rory Taylor to boast.
Festival Record: Champions 2019
Last Year: 3rd
Prediction for Trophy quarter-finalists from Group 1: Wellington College and Denstone College
Group 2 – Kirkham Grammar, Marlborough College, Trinity, Whitchurch High
Group 2 is one of our favourites, containing two new sides to the competition in Trinity and Marlborough College who’ll be so keen to make their mark right from the word go. However, they will face stiff competition in Kirkham Grammar and Whitchurch High, two outfits who are well versed in the St. Joseph’s format and traditions.
Kirkham Grammar
Form P4 W4 L0
Kirkham, the Sedbergh 10s champions, will as usual be coming to Suffolk filled with confidence. They are one of three teams in the competition who are unbeaten up to this point in the season, discarding a brilliant Northampton School for Boys team last weekend. They will also perhaps be buoyed by their uncharacteristic loss last year to Denstone in the trophy quarter finals, in the end redeeming themselves by picking up the Plate. However, that quarter final loss will live in the memories of this year’s teams, and they’ll no doubt have their eyes on a first De La Salle Trophy come Sunday, up there with the likes of Millfield and Wellington as hot favourites.
Festival Record: Final 2019, Plate Champions 2021
Last Year: 5th
Marlborough College
Form P7 W4 D1 L2
The first of our new boys this year and we are incredibly excited to see how Marlborough get on this weekend. Looking down their fixture list the strength of their circuit is palpable and their results so far impressive. Two wins against the traditionally strong Abingdon and a draw against West country heavyweights Cheltenham College is evidence of how good this side can be, and a midweek victory in the Cup should send them in full of confidence. Kirkham first up on Saturday is massive tone setter for the tournament, and if they can tough out a win in that fixture the possibilities are endless for them.
Festival Record: N/A Debut Season
Last Year: N/A Debut Season
Trinity School
Form P6 W6 L0
Another new team, and what a team it is. It may be Trinity’s first foray into the St Joseph’s Festival, but they arrive as one of the favourites. They are going into the tournament in white hot form scoring over thirty points in every single one of their games this year. They weren’t coming up against easy competition either, dominating Dulwich, Cranleigh and St Johns on a magnificent run coming off their stunning National Schools Cup triumph last year. This is a side that have firmly announced themselves as major contenders at every turn on the schoolboy stage, with some tantalising talent in their ranks in Conor Byrne and Josh Bellamy, among others, who were both involved in England setups last year. A team to watch this weekend, without doubt, especially coming in hot off a stunning victory over local rivals Whitgift in the Cup on Wednesday.
Festival Record: N/A Debut Season
Last Year: N/A Debut Season
Whitchurch High
Form P5 W2 L3
Welsh representatives Whitchurch High come into St Joseph’s having snapped a 3-game losing streak in the Welsh National Schools and Colleges League with victory over Newport High, and will be looking to build off this going into the festival. This weekend will offer them something a little different in terms of opposition away from the incredibly strong Welsh circuit, and they’ll be relishing the opportunity on the big stage to show their worth. If you’ve seen Welsh international Christ Tshiunza impressing on the Premiership stage with Exeter and wondered where he came from, this is the place, and you can be guaranteed there’ll be some talent on show for Whitchurch.
Festival Record: Trophy Groups 2019
Last Year: 11th
Predictions for Trophy quarter-finalists from Group 2: Kirkham Grammar and Trinity School
Group 3 – Millfield School, QEGS Wakefield, RGS Newcastle, Strathallan
Group 3 is another inviting prospect this weekend, containing last year’s champions Millfield. Joining them are tournament veterans in QEGS and RGS Newcastle, rounding out with new boys Strathallan. A real tough one to call this, as there’s bound to be some tight games on Saturday.
Millfield School
Form P5 W3 L2
Somerset’s entertainers and our reigning champions are back again in 2022 and ready to put their exciting brand of rugby to good use. When glancing at their results this year Millfield had some losses early on against top opposition, tricking many into thinking they were possibly having an off season. This made their travel to Wellington last week all the more important, especially in the context of the festival. Predictably the men donning the Blue Stripe stepped up, and played out a thriller at one of the hardest places to go in schoolboy rugby, setting them up yet again as one of the favourites in Suffolk this weekend. The school has brought future British and Irish Lions and England captains onto the St Joseph’s stage before, and hold an unmatched pedigree in the competition over the many years it has been running.
Festival Record: Champions 2021, 2014, 2012, 2006, 2004, 1993, 1990
Last Year: 1st
QEGS Wakefield
Form P4 W2 L2
QEGS has such a long history at St Joseph’s, factoring it in as one of the most important aspects of their calendar. One may remember a young Mike Tindall raising the De La Salle trophy back in 1997, a tribute to the legacy these boys will be playing for this weekend. This will perhaps work in their favour against newbies Strathallan come Saturday morning, with a first win being vital. If a school as experienced as QEGS gets going, they’ll cause anybody on the circuit problems and in a Group which could swing one way or the other they’ll definitely be a side to keep an eye on.
Festival Record: Champions 1997
Last Year: 15th
RGS Newcastle
Form P6 W5 L1
RGS Newcastle will be a fascinating watch this weekend, bringing some fantastic form to the tournament. Their only loss this year comes in the monumental form of Sedbergh, with some big wins against Barnard Castle in the National Cup and Woodhouse Grove no doubt giving them plenty of confidence going forward. Perhaps the game of the day on Saturday is RGS’s opener against Millfield, as a potential upset there could completely shake up the group and send the team from Newcastle onto a path similar to their predecessors, who lifted the trophy in 2018. Certainly their form warrants it, and having beaten Stonyhurst to reach the Schools Cup regional final in midweek, their confidence should match.
Festival Record: Champions 2018
Last Year: 10th
Strathallan
Form P4 W2 L2
Our last set of new boys in the review and it comes in the form of Scottish side Strathallan. These boys will bring a sense of the unknown with them, as well as a boat load of passion and desire to show off the quality of the Scottish circuit on such a big stage. Rugby in Scotland has gone from strength to strength in all aspects in the last few years and it will be exciting to see what Strathallan have got up against the very best in Group 3.
Festival Record: N/A Debut Season
Last Year: N/A Debut Season
Predictions for Trophy quarter-finalists in Group 3: Millfield School and RGS Newcastle
Group 4 – Brighton College, Hampton, RGS High Wycombe, St Joseph’s College
Finally, we have a very strong Group 4 to finish our team by team guide. There’s so little to pick between these four teams who are staples of the schoolboy circuit, all four being so difficult to beat on their day. This will be the Group probably most watched with the rampant St Joseph’s crowd turning the atmosphere up to fever pitch whenever the hosts are on the field, further upping the stakes for an already tense Saturday for these sides.
Brighton College
Form P5 W3 L2
A school possessing the quality that Brighton College does may think this season hasn’t really lurched into life yet, but looking at their two losses, they have come to two of the best teams around in Trinity and Hampton and with a sizeable injury record. A win against local rivals Hurstpierpoint last weekend now sets them up perfectly for a big weekend in Suffolk, and they now have many of their injured players back on the field. They just always seem to perform in this competition, having been either runners up, or walking away with some sort of silverware almost every time they grace the turf. Alongside this, some of the individual performances down the years have been magnificent, thinking back to Marcus Smith showcasing his usual mercurial abilities on the way to their De La Salle triumph in 2017, or recent Harlequins debutant Jonny Smith’s player of the tournament heroics last year. This is a side that always turns up for this competition and expect no different this weekend.
Festival Record: Champions 2017
Last Year: 2nd
Hampton
Form P7 W7 L0
Hampton will be making the travel round the M25 up to St Joseph’s full of confidence having already beaten both Brighton and RGS in their regular season so far. In fact, they’ve won against everybody they’ve come up against, with another impressive performance to beat Epsom College last weekend, who are no slouches themselves, and a cracker in the Cup in midweek against KCS Wimbledon. However, many of these players will think back to last year’s defeat to Brighton College in the quarter finals of the trophy, and remember that regular season block fixtures mean nothing at St Josephs. Can they put the ghosts of 2021 to bed and fulfil the clear talents this side has? You can be certain that they will be giving it absolutely everything, they certainly arrive as one of the favourites.
Festival Record: Champions 2015
Last Year: 6th
RGS High Wycombe
Form P3 W1 L2
A school with such a rich history at St Josephs, and beyond, and another team that on their day is a handful for anybody. RGS’s season has seen some frustrating results, but has had some great performances too, running Berkhamsted close for instance. They are a side that has been there and done it, especially here at St Joseph’s, and you count them out at your peril. Particularly this year as there is a sense that this is a side that could just spring a surprise.
Festival Record: Champions 1999
Last Year: 9th
St Joseph’s College
Form P3 W2 L1
So last but of course not least it is the hosts for the weekend, St Josephs. They always seem to have the entirety of Suffolk behind them at this competition, making for some incredible pictures on the touchlines down the years. There’ll be a real buzz around the place for the team this season. They come into the competition in some good form, comfortably seeing off good sides such as New Hall and Wymondham recently. In a weekend that means so much to the community of the school and surrounding area, can the key will be to keep emotions in balance and go out and do something special. If they reach the knockouts, with that crowd behind them and the mental advantage of being on home turf absolutely anything can happen.
Festival Record: Champions 2013, 2010, 1995
Last Year: 13th
Predictions for Trophy quarter-finalists in Group 4: Hampton and Brighton College
