Junior Schools Competition

Dulwich College lifted the first trophy on offer at this year’s Rosslyn Park HSBC National Schools Sevens, defeating Whitgift School in the final of the Junior Schools competition on day two.

Dulwich and Whitgift disposed of Devonport High School and Abingdon respectively in their semi-finals to book their places in the final, screened live from the showcase pitch from the RPNS7 home page.

But it was Dulwich who came out on top in the end, recording an impressive 31-0 victory in front of a vocal crowd, including former pupil and England international Nick Easter.

The success was Dulwich’s first victory at the world’s largest schools rugby tournament since they recorded back-to-back Junior Schools triumphs in 1993 and 1994 and captain Enzo Croy was understandably proud of his team’s efforts.

“I’m absolutely delighted with my team,” he said. “We worked really hard for this and I’m just glad the hard work has paid off, it means a lot.

“The two days have been the best. I’m so proud of my team, we’ve been really consistent and saved our best game for when it mattered most.

“Courtney Lawes is my rugby hero, I love watching him play and hope to be as good as him some day.”

Prep Schools Competition

Tuesday also saw the culmination of the Preparatory Schools competition with Caldicott School beating Dulwich Prep 20-12 in the second final of the day.

The newly crowned champions had been trailing at half-time but hit back to take their ninth Preparatory title.

Captain Nicholas Teague said: “It’s amazing, we haven’t won it as a school since 1997 so it’s great to bring it back to Caldicott.

“We saw Dulwich go under the posts first and knew we would have to fight our way back in the second half.

“We were down by a conversion but we just hammered them in their own half, we played exactly to our game style with a high press and it’s just great to win.”

Colts Competition

Over 650 teams and a total of 7,500 rugby players will be in action during the course of this week, with Tuesday also seeing the start of the Colts tournament.

And there was a clear statement of intent from reigning champions Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield who won all of their four group games before defeating Ipswich School 29-7 in the first knockout game.

They will play Warwick School in Wednesday’s second round with finals taking place later in the day, alongside the start of the Festival competition.

Captain Luke Adams said: “It’s a pretty similar squad to the one that won the title last year which means there is a bit of pressure but we have been trying to keep that out of our heads and win our games this time around.

“It’s quality to be here, it’s a great competition and a big highlight of our sevens season to come down here. Tomorrow is a big day for us.”