The 2024/25 schools rugby season is almost ready to begin as a week of intense pre-season festivals begin.
Chief among them will be the Hartpury College pre-season Festival, taking place this Wednesday with fixtures on Pitch 1 Live here on NextGenXV from 10am to 5pm. You will be able to watch the coverage through the NextGenXV YouTube channel, and through the embedded video below.
There will also be action at King’s Macclesfield, Kingswood, and in South West London at the prestigious Esher President’s Cup.
At Hartpury College there will be 32 teams in action across men’s and women’s Festivals, with 25 sides in the men’s festival and 7 in the women’s. All games will last 20 minutes, allowing teams to play a variety of opposition and to give as many players opportunities as possible.
In the men’s competition there are a number of ACE Colleges in action as well as several English Schools, plus a few Welsh Colleges, meaning a real variety of styles and experiences.
Hartpury College enter three sides into the men’s, Hartpury Red, Hartpury Black, and Hartpury White, they are among a 13 strong ACE contingent that also sees City of Oxford College, Exeter College, Bishop Wand, and Truro College all enter two sides each, Brooksby Melton College enter one side.
From Wales Cardiff and Vale College and Coleg Gwent each enter two sides, with Coleg y Cymoedd entering one, while from the English Schools side Bromsgrove, Cranleigh, Denstone College, Hereford 6th form College, Ivybridge Community College, and Oakham all enter one side each.
Over in the women’s festival Hartpury College enter two sides, Red and Black, with City of Oxford College also entering two sides, meanwhile Truro College, Henley College, and Wales’ Coleg Gwent each enter one side. All of the Women’s teams will appear on the live broadcast except City of Oxford College’s 2nd XV, with Hartpury Red taking on Coleg Gwent at midday, followed by Henley College v City of Oxford 1 at 12.30, with Truro College playing Hartpury Black at 3pm.
Fifteen of the twenty-five men’s teams will also appear live, beginning with Hartpury College Red v Henley College at 10am and concluding at 4.30pm with Coleg Gwent v Exeter College 2, with games running every 30 minutes in between bar a break from 1.30pm to 2pm for lunch. You can see the full schedule for every pitch, including the live broadcast, below.
It promises to be a brilliant day, with rugby in action all day across four pitches and some of the very best sides in the country in action. Without a doubt there are sides involved that will be competing at the sharp end of some of the biggest competitions in the England and Wales this season.
We may even see some at the NextGenXV Global Schools Challenge, hosted at Grey College in South Africa this December and, if any schools are ready to rise to that challenge, then please do contact tom@nextgenxv.com for further information. There is a competition level for every school.
The 2024/25 season is almost ready to go, and it all begins LIVE this Wednesday at Hartpury College!
Schedule
Pitch 1 (Live)
10.00 Hartpury College Red v Henley College (Men’s)
10.30 Coleg y Cymoedd v Bromsgrove (Men’s)
11.00 Cranleigh v Oakham (Men’s)
11.30 Hartpury College White v Brooksby Melton College (Men’s)
12.00 Hartpury College Red v Coleg Gwent (Women’s)
12.30 Henley College v City of Oxford College (Women’s)
13.00 Oakham v Exeter College 1 (Men’s)
14.00 Cardiff & Vale College 1 v Ivybridge College (Men’s)
14.30 Bishop Wand v Denstone College (Men’s)
15.00 Truro College v Hartpury College Black (Women’s)
15.30 Hartpury College Black v Truro College 1 (Men’s)
16.00 Hereford 6th form College v Cardiff & Vale College 2 (Men’s)
16.30 Coleg Gwent v Exeter College 2 (Men’s)
3G Pitch
10.00 Oakham v Cardiff & Vale College 1 (Men’s)
10.30 Exeter College 1 v Ivybridge College (Men’s)
11.00 Hartpury College Black v Bishop Wand (Men’s)
11.30 Truro College 1 v Denstone College (Men’s)
12.00 Coleg y Cymoedd v City of Oxford College 1 (Men’s)
12.30 Hartpury College Red v Bromsgrove (Men’s)
13.00 Cranleigh v Brooksby Melton College (Men’s)
14.00 Hartpury College White v Hartpury College Black (Men’s)
14.30 City of Oxford College 1 v Bromsgrove (Men’s)
15.00 Hartpury College Red v Coleg y Cymoedd (Men’s)
15.30 Exeter College 1 v Cardiff & Vale College 1 (Men’s)
16.00 Oakham v Ivybridge College (Men’s)
16.30 Truro College 1 v Bishop Wand (Men’s)
Pitch 2
10.00 Hereford 6th form College v Coleg Gwent 2 (Men’s)
10.30 Cardiff & Vale College 2 v Bishop Wand 2 (Men’s)
11.00 Exeter College 2 v Truro College 2 (Men’s)
11.30 Coleg Gwent v City of Oxford College 2 (Men’s)
12.00 Cardiff & Vale College 2 v Coleg Gwent 2 (Men’s)
12.30 Hereford 6th form College v Bishop Wand 2 (Men’s)
13.00 Exeter College 2 v City of Oxford College 2 (Men’s)
14.00 Coleg Gwent v Truro College 2 (Men’s)
14.30 Coleg Gwent 2 v Bishop Wand 2 (Men’s)
15.00 City of Oxford College 2 v Truro College 2 (Men’s)
15.30 Hartpury College White v Cranleigh (Men’s)
16.00 Brooksby Melton College v Denstone College (Men’s)
Pitch 3
10.00 Henley College v Coleg Gwent (Women’s)
10.30 Hartpury College Red v City of Oxford College 1 (Women’s)
11.30 Truro College v City of Oxford College 2 (Women’s)
13.00 Hartpury College Black v City of Oxford College 2 (Women’s)
14.30 Hartpury College Black v City of Oxford College 2 (Women’s)
15.00 Coleg Gwent v City of Oxford College 1 (Women’s)
15.30 Hartpury College Red v Henley College (Women’s)
16.00 Hartpury College Black v Truro College (Women’s)