The 2023 Rosslyn Park National School 7s kicks off on Monday in what will be the biggest week of the tournament’s long history.
Over the five days, Monday 20th March to Friday 24th March, eleven different tournaments will be taking place across five different age groups with Boys, Girls, and Mixed events all taking place.
NextGenXV will be live streaming all of the action on Pitch RE2 across the five days and will have a hub set up there for any visitors that want to pop in over the week too.
With over 1000 teams competing over the five days it is set to be an extraordinary tournament once again, the sunshine of last year may not be forecast, but the rugby on show and the atmosphere around the venue are going to be as good as ever.
It truly is one of the most incredible weeks of school rugby anywhere on the planet, not just for the skills on show but for the competition, the drama, the enjoyment, catching up with friends old and new, and simply being a part of the greatest school tournament on earth.
For those competing, memories are made that last a lifetime. Conversations will be struck up with new friends at university in years to come about playing at the Rosslyn Park National School 7s at the same time, or even against one another.
It is the tournament that binds nearly everyone in UK schools rugby together. Some feat for leafy South West London.
Day 1 – Monday 20th March
The action kicks off on Monday with the new U16 Girls Competition and the U18 Boys Vase, which has been moved a day earlier in the schedule from previous years to really allow the action to kick off with a bang.
Stowe are the reigning Vase champions after a terrific performance last year on the back of winning the Schools Plate competition at fifteen-a-side. In the final at Rosslyn Park they faced this year’s recently crowned Continental Tyres Schools Cup champions and put in a sparkling performance for a 33-5 victory.
Many of that side will return again for Stowe, and if England internationals Henry Pollock and Archie McParland are available they will be even more formidable. They are in a tough group with Coleg Sir Gar, Haileybury, and Ivybridge, but all 54 groups are fairly treacherous – and you can see those groups here: U18 Boys Vase Groups.
Those 54 group winners will then go to the elimination round at the end of Monday where the winners will progress to Tuesday’s Vase ‘eighth round’ groups, seven groups of four teams each with the winners of each plus the top runner up heading to the Vase quarter finals.
The remaining six runners up will head to the Bowl semi final pools, two pools of three from which the winners will meet in the Bowl final, which was last year won by Scottish side Dollar Academy.
The U16 Girls Cup takes over from the old U15 Girls Cup, which was last year won by Ivybridge Community College. That marks Ivybridge out as a side to look out for this year in the U16s, where they are grouped with Jumeirah from Dubai, Mill Hill, and Wales Ysgol Bro Teifi. You can see the groups here: U16 Girls Cup Groups.
There are eight groups in total and the winners of those eight groups will head to the quarter finals, with the tournament all being completed on the Monday.
You can watch all of Monday’s RE2 action below and on the NextGenXV YouTube Channel.
Day 2 – Tuesday 21st March
Day 2 is a busy day with the knockout stages of the U18 Boys Vase taking place alongside the start of both the U14 Boys and the U14 Girls Cup competitions.
The day will build towards the finals of the U18 Boys Vase and Bowl as well as the U14 Girls Cup, while the U14 Boys will build towards their big crescendo on the Wednesday.
Sedbergh are the reigning U14 Boys champions, and as such are in Group A alongside Abingdon, Bohunt, and Kingsbridge. The tournament sees 192 teams compete across 48 groups on Tuesday, with the winners of those groups heading to an elimination round on Tuesday afternoon, the winners of which will progress to eight ‘eighth round’ Cup pools of three teams each on Wednesday and the losers to similar Plate pools. From there, the winners of those pools head to knockout rounds from the quarter finals onwards.
Ysgol Glantaf won the U14 Plate last year and will be keen to make it a Cup run this year, their campaign starts in a tricky Group Z alongside Warwick, Woodlands, and Dyffryn Aman. You can see the full draw for the U14 Boys Cup here: U14 Boys Cup Groups.
The U14 Girls competition is a brand new competition for 2023, featuring 32 teams split into eight groups of four, details of which can be seen here: U14 Girls Cup Groups.
The eight group winners will progress to the Quarter Finals on Tuesday afternoon, with the semi finals and finals also taking place on Tuesday, including the final on RE2.
You can see all of Tuesday’s RE2 action below and on the NextGenXV YouTube Channel, including that U14 Girls final and the latter stages of the U18 Boys Vase and Bowl.
Day 3 – Wednesday 22nd March
Wednesday is the quietest day of the week in terms of competition numbers, but in terms of competition intensity it is likely to be one of the most important.
The U14 Boys Cup and Plate competitions will conclude on Wednesday, and the U16 Boys Cup will get underway – arguably the most challenging of all of the tournament with 216 teams competing across 54 groups of four teams each, the full draw for which you can see here: U16 Boys Cup Draw.
Harrow won what is one of the toughest assignments in Schools Rugby last year with a string of brilliant performances that saw them defeat Wellington College, Trinity, and Eton College in the knockout stages as they proved themselves the class in the field. This year they have some stiff competition in Dunottar, Scottish legends George Watson’s College, and one of the most successful sides in England, Collegiate.
There are 215 sides that will fancy a go at knocking Harrow off top spot though and this year there will also be Plate silverware available. At the end of Wednesday’s groups the 54 winners plus the two best runners up will head to an elimination round. The winners of those groups will head to Thursday’s Cup ‘eighth round’ Pools, 7 pools of four teams each.
Winners of those pools, plus the best runner up, will head to the Cup quarter finals, while the remaining six runners up will head to two Plate semi final pools of three.
Over in the U14 Boys, Wednesday sees the Cup and Plate eighth round pools take place along with the quarter finals, semi finals, and finals of each also taking place on what will be the only two pieces of silverware being lifted on Wednesday.
All of Wednesday’s RE2 action will be available below and on the NextGenXV YouTube Channel.
Day 4 – Thursday 23rd March
Thursday is just about as big a day as there can be at the Rosslyn Park National School 7s, four competitions kick off and the U16 Boys Cup and Plate conclude on what will be a day to remember.
As the U16 Boys wrap up, the flagship U18 Boys Cup will kick off, so too the two U18 Girls competitions, the U18 Girls ACE and the U18 Girls Cup, as well as the waterfall Prep Schools competition. In total 208 teams will be playing across the day.
The U18 Boys Cup sees 55 teams competing across 11 groups of five teams each, the draw for which you can see here: U18 Boys Cup Groups.
Wellington College are the reigning champions and are therefore drawn in Group A where the competition is fierce, Finborough, Gosforth Academy, Harrogate Grammar, and Mount Kelly join them. The side they beat in last year’s final, Millfield, are in Group K along with Welsh pair Coleg Llandrillo and Coleg y Cymoedd, plus Denstone College and Henley College from England, another fiercely competitive group.
Brighton College meanwhile won the Plate last year and their reward is a brutally tough Group I with four ACE Colleges for company, Brooksby Melton College, Exeter College, Hartpury College, and Bishop Wand. The U18 Boys Cup is a brutally tough competition.
Only the group winners and the single best runner up progress to the Cup, which all takes place on Friday, with the teams being divided into three quarter final pools of four teams each, with the winners and one runner up going to the semis. Runners up from the initial Thursday pools go into the Plate competition on Friday, which mirrors the Cup.
The U18 Girls Cup is an exact mirror of the boys competition, with 55 teams split into 11 groups of five, details of which can be seen here: U18 Girls Cup Groups.
Oaklands College won last year but are this year in the ACE competition, but last year’s Plate winners Peter Symonds’ College are in Group H alongside Gordon’s, Hartpury College, Oakham, and Richard Huish. Like the Boys, the U18 Girls Cup is brutally tough.
On Friday, in that mirroring of the Boys, the group winners and the best runner up progress to the Cup, with the teams being divided into three quarter final pools of four teams each, and the winners and one runner up going to the semis. Runners up from the initial Thursday pools go into the Plate competition on Friday, which plays out in the same way as the Cup.
The Girls ACE competition is meanwhile a ten team competition, with two groups of five teams each. The winners of each group meeting in the final at the end of Thursday’s action. Details of the draw can be seen here: U18 Girls ACE Draw.
Hartpury College are the reigning champions and are drawn in Group A, while in Group B are Oaklands College, who claimed last year’s U18 Girls Cup competition and now step up to the ACE grade.
The Prep Schools competition meanwhile sees 60 U13 boys teams split into ten groups of six teams each. The teams will play the other sides in their groups over the course of the day but there will be no knockout element to the competition in line with RFU guidelines. The draw is available here: Prep Schools Draw.
Thursday’s games on RE2 from across the five competitions that will be taking place can be seen on the NextGenXV YouTube Channel and below.
Day 5 – Friday 24th March
The week rounds off on Friday and rounds off in some style. The conclusions of both the U18 Boys Cup and U18 Girls Cup will be immense as ever, and all the more so for the fact that they will run as mirrored competitions this year, a real sign of the progress made in the Girls competition.
Running alongside those two competitions will be the two remaining competitions for the younger age groups, the Junior Schools competition and the U11 Mixed competition.
The Junior Schools U13 Boys competition sees a remarkable 102 teams competing. They are divided into 17 groups of six and each groups will operate as an independent round robin. The draws can be seen here: U13 Junior Schools Groups.
The mixed U11 competition sees boys and girls competing together, with 36 teams divided into six groups of six teams each. Like the Prep Schools and Juniors, they will play the other sides in their group over the course the day. Check out the groups here: Mixed U11 Groups.
All of Friday’s RE2 action is available below and on the NextGenXV YouTube Channel, including semi finals from the two flagship events, the Boys and Girls U18 Cups.
