The 2024 Seaford Southern Tens takes place this Sunday, LIVE here on NextGenXV as some of the best sides in the country gather at Seaford College.

The Seaford Southern Tens has become one of the key staging posts in the season, in many ways marking the start of the short-form season. Year on year it has become a bigger and bigger competition, a short, sharp, and intense challenge for every side.

Live Stream

All the action from Pitches 1 and 2 (Oval 1 and Oval 2) this Sunday the 28^th January will be available live here on NextGenXV, through the NextGenXV YouTube Channel and through the embedded links below. You can see the schedule for the live stream later in this preview.

Tournament Details & Draw

Sixteen teams will be in action at Seaford College, split into four groups of four teams each. Group winners head to the Cup semi finals, 2^nd place to the Plate semis, third to the Vase semis, and fourth to the Bowl semis, with Group 1 facing Group 3 and Group 2 facing Group 4 across those knockout games.

Games will be 9 minutes each way, with capacity in the final for extra time which will be decided by golden point over 6 minutes of extra time each way.

Being ten-a-side, scrums will be five man with no picking from the base, and, like in all short form games, conversions will be drop goals and the scoring side will kick off. Yellow cards will last three minutes.

Originally the Seaford Southern Tens was a sevens tournament, but since the pandemic it was been changed to a ten-a-side tournament to better accommodate the weather conditions at this time of year, but also to help teams move from the fifteen-a-side season to the 7s season in a less severe manner.

Since the move to Tens, Trinity have been the dominant side at the Seaford Southern Tens, winning back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. In this 2023/24 season they have not quite hit the extraordinary heights of those previous two season, but you can be certain that they will be throwing everything at holding onto this title that they have made their own.

The reigning champions are drawn in Group 3, and it will be a tricky group, featuring 2022 Bowl winners Bishop Wordsworth’s, a newcomer to the tournament in the form of Canford, and last year’s Vase winners and one of the dark horses for this year’s tournament, RGS High Wycombe. RGS had an outstanding fifteen-a-side season with a young side and will seriously belive that they can go very far on Sunday.

Hosts Seaford College will also believe they have a strong chance. They have got better and better in this competition since it became 10s, winning the Vase in 2022 and reaching the Cup semi finals in 2023, they will want to make that next step this year and have the side to do so. Again though, their Group 1 is a tricky group, featuring last year’s Plate Winners, Marlborough College, alongside a Solihull side that has played some delightful rugby this year, and a St Benedict’s side that always backs themselves in short formats and will fancy their chances of upsetting a few.

Group 2 features international travellers in the form of Christ College of Brecon in Wales. Christ College have been superb for a few years now, really rising up the Welsh ranks. In 2022 they reached the final, pushing Trinity all the way to extra time, and they had a strong run in 2023 as well. They will be targeting another big run this year but they are going to have to work hard in Group 2, not least against a Hurstpierpoint College side that is one of the best that the school has ever produced. They are Seaford College’s great rival and they would love to claim the title at the home of their rivals, and this year they have a real shot. Joining those two are Dulwich College, always a threat in these competitions. The group will have one more side added to it before Sunday.

Group 4 meanwhile looks heavyweight. Last year’s finalists Ipswich are the headline act, and they are having perhaps the greatest season in their history, which included victory over Sedbergh. Their only defeat of the season was to Harrow, a truly great schools rugby side. However the only other side to prevent them winning this year were Epsom College, the two drew in the Continental Tyres Schools Cup, and Epsom College are also drawn in this Group. Mouth-watering in the extreme, and Epsom have good history here too – they reached last year’s Cup semis and won the Plate in 2022. As if that was not enough, those two are joined by ACE side Gordon’s, who have enjoyed their best season in that competition this year. It leaves Felsted with a tricky challenge in this group, and yet they are a real challenger too, having had an outstanding season. This is a group to keep a real eye on.

Overall it is an incredibly strong field, featuring some of the greatest sides in the country at the moment, some real local rivalries, and some fixtures between sides that would not ordinarily play each other. A real mix of everything.

Whoever comes out on top will have to be superb, and they will have to be resilient, this is an intense day. That intensity brings with it real thrills, and showcases some of the extraordinary levels of skill and endeavour across all the teams.

Be sure to tune in LIVE for a 10am start on Sunday!

Seaford Southern Tens Draw:

Live Schedule (Pitches Oval 1 and Oval 2):

Schedule for Pitches Slopes 1 and Slopes 2: