This weekend sees a particularly special fixture take place at Marlborough College as they host Eton College on Hammersley, LIVE in a 3pm kick off here on NextGenXV.
The game is part of the Annual Festival of Sport at Marlborough College, that brings current pupils and Old Marlbruians together with a huge range of regular school fixtures, plus some OM games.
As part of that, LIVE on the NextGenXV YouTube Channel and through the embedded link below, NextGenXV will be live streaming the Marlborough College v Eton College 1st XV game at 3pm, along with the Old Marbruians curtain raiser at 1pm.
These two sides share so much, two teams that have played wonderful rugby in recent times, two of the most prestigious schools in the country, and indeed the former schools of the Prince (Eton College) and Princess (Marlborough College) of Wales, a decent rivalry and head to head by any standards.
It is a head to head that seems to produce some outstandingly tight games of rugby too, last year Eton took victory 26-24, in 2019 it was 24-23, 2018 17-14, 2021’s 20-12 victory for Eton was the biggest winning margin since 2016.
What is notable, perhaps, though is that Eton have come out on the right side of those scores. Not since 2012 have Marlborough College come out on top in this fixture (though it should be noted that it has only been played six times in the ten years since then). They will be keen to put that right this time out, especially on such a big day for the school and they have started the season out in a manner that suggests they should be very competitive.
Victories have come over Bloxham, Canford, and a Cup win over Caterham, the competition of which they reached the quarter finals last year. Only Cheltenham, in a great game, and one of the best Kingswood sides in recent memory have got the better of them.
They will be keen to banish that Kingswood defeat from memory as quickly as possible, but will need to be sharp against Eton to do so for this is one of the great Eton College sides. The signs were there in 2021 when this current U6th completed an unbeaten season as Colts, that included a stunning 80-0 victory over Marlborough on Hammersley.
They have continued that form in sixth form, enjoying a season last year that saw only Trinity and Harrow (two of the top five in the country) defeat them, before starting this season off with a perfect five from five record, with victories over John Fisher, St Paul’s, Cranleigh, Bedford, and, Live on NextGen XV this Tuesday (see below), Rugby School 22-17.
It sets up for an epic occasion on Saturday, both on the field and off as Marlborough College celebrate this festival of sport. Whichever way the results falls, the hope will surely be for another of those classic Marlborough College v Eton College 1st XV thrillers that we have become so used to in recent years.
Marlborough College v Eton College – LIVE on NextGenXV – Saturday 7th October, 3pm KO (Old Boys at 1pm)
