Thursday night sees Clifton College host Millfield at Clifton RFC in the annual Ryan Bresnahan Memorial Game, kicking off at 7.30pm.
As in last year’s thrilling Ryan Bresnahan Memorial, NextGenXV will be live streaming the game and it will be available to watch on the NextGenXV YouTube channel and through the embedded link below.
Ryan was a former pupil of Clifton College who died on 31st March 2010 of Meningitis B, it was a sudden and tragic death. Born from his tragic passing was ‘a Life for a Cure’ a charity raising funds for search of the ultimate vaccine for Meningitis B and so far over half a million pounds has been raised. You can learn more about it here: A Life for a Cure.
Thursday’s evening kick off will be in his memory, and the winners will lift The Ryan Bresnahan Cup. It will follow a day of festivities, including a raffle and BBQ, all funds all go to A Life for a Cure.
On the field it promises to be one of the great games of the season, these are two giants of the school game going head to head with both sides littered with some of the most exciting schools rugby players in the country.
It is a return to the Ryan Bresnahan Memorial game for Millfield, the contested for the Cup in 2018 and 2019, winning a tight one in 2018 before a stunning 29-0 performance from Clifton College in 2019. Last year the fixture took place on the opening weekend of the season, which meant that Clifton took on another giant, Kirkham Grammar School, in the Ryan Bresnahan Memorial and what a game that turned out to be. A thrilling game of rugby that could have gone either way, claimed at the whistle by Kirkham Grammar School 19-17, you can relieve that drama below.
That game was one of only two that Clifton dropped last year, the other being another live game against Irish giants Blackrock College, that one you can also relieve below. It was a fantastic season for them and it included that 31-19 victory over Millfield up at Sedbergh in the opening game of the season.
Millfield’s response to that game, which you can watch again below, was outstanding though. They went on to have one of the great seasons, losing just once more (a tight one to Welsh giants Coleg Sir Gar) en route to a season that saw them claim back to back St Joseph’s Festival titles, the first time that had been done in over a decade, and cementing their status as the most successful side at the UK’s premier schools rugby Festival.
Both sides have started this season off well, Clifton College travelled to Harrow for their opener and lost 41-31 but it was without question one of the top games of school rugby in the last five years, they then showed their quality again this weekend just gone to hold of Welsh giants Llandovery College 26-24. Millfield meanwhile won a pre season game against Hartpury College in midweek last week 19-17, then on Saturday showed their innate determination and quality in a stunning second half turnaround to go from 20-0 down against Blundell’s to win 29-20.
It all lends itself to huge excitement ahead of Thursday night’s encounter, in this fixture that has rapidly become a key game on the schools rugby calendar. Before 2018 the two had not met in a decade, but as Clifton College put more and more time and resource into their rugby it has quickly become a classic, with meetings every year (bar Covid) between these two since 2018 including a classic on the Sir Gareth Edward’s pitch in 2021 that you can watch again below.
Everything points towards another classic, even last year’s Colts result between these two that saw Clifton College just edge it with a 7-5 victory at Millfield. We should be in for a brilliant game of rugby and a fitting tribute to Ryan Bresnahan.
Clifton College v Millfield – Thursday 21st Sept, 7.30pm, Clifton RFC – LIVE on NextGenXV
