This Saturday Haileybury return in front of the NextGenXV LIVE cameras for the fourth time this season when they host Oundle on Saturday in a 2.30pm Kick Off.
The long running fixture will be available on the NextGenXV YouTube channel and on through the embedded link below as these two sides, who have started the season well, go head to head.
The hosts have made tight games a bit of a speciality this season, going down by a mere four points in their opener before a 27-26 victory at Rugby School shortly after, their first victory at Rugby in 15 years and a dramatic encounter in front of the live cameras.
Then followed another tight game, this time in the annual fixture at the StoneX Stadium. A fantastic Stamford side edging out Haileybury 24-19, again in front of the live cameras. Haileybury quickly bounced back with a fantastic, and for once not nail-biting, 36-14 victory over Bedford in the Continental Tyres Schools Cup (see below) setting up another meeting with Stamford to be arranged shortly for Round 2.
So they will head into this clash with Oundle feeling good, but Oundle will be feeling pretty happy with the world too. They are enjoying one of their best starts to a season in recent memory, winning four on the bounce to kick things off.
They had not won a game away from home in five years but they ended that run on the first day of the season, beating Bedford 24-21, and it was just as well, because their first home game is not until the 14th October against St Edward’s Oxford.
Away victory over old rivals Uppingham followed, 23-20, before back to back sublime Continental Tyres Schools Vase victories over Robert Smyth and Wellingborough. The only blot on the copybook came the last time that they were in front of the live streaming cameras (see below), last weekend against Rugby School in a 27-14 defeat.
Nevertheless they arrive with a real skip in the step after such a glorious start to the season. That pair of results against Rugby perhaps suggests a slight edge for Haileybury, so too the relative difference in victory margins over Bedford, but Oundle are making a habit of breaking what looks the case on paper. From ending that tough away record to confounding results from these current players when they were in a lower age group, Oundle’s start to the season ought to have the chests pumped out.
Haileybury will reflect on results from their players as youngsters and think they are likely due something similar – the current U6th group never lost a game before entering 6th form, while the current L6th enjoyed a 53-7 victory over Oundle at U16s. As if to demonstrate just how topsy turvy the world of school rugby is though, that same groups saw Oundle win 45-12 as U15s.
So it all suggest that this game is utterly on a knife edge. More important though is that this game is about so much more than the outcome, it is about the very core of schools rugby, history, fair play, exciting play, and teamwork. It is a fixture that has been running continuously for longer than any of those taking to the field on Saturday have been alive. Some legacy to be a part of, whichever way the wind blows.
Haileybury v Oundle – LIVE on NextGenXV – Saturday 7th October, 2.30pm
