Stowe School marked their first ever Rosslyn Park HSBC National Schools Sevens final in style, holding off a late comeback from Tonbridge School to lift the Festival Cup on day four.

Unbeaten throughout the tournament, Stowe raced into a 10-0 lead at half-time in front of the live cameras and England full-back Mike Brown.

Tonbridge, runners-up in 2013, would not roll over, pulling two tries back after the break, including one late on, but Stowe held on to triumph 15-12.

Captain Kyle Brown said: “I am buzzing, that was an incredible team performance from all 12 of the squad, we really performed on both days, the depth in our squad is amazing.

“To win it as a captain is unbelievable, a lot of the boys say this is the best day of their lives, I share that.

“This is my second time here at Rosslyn Park and to go the distance is incredible, I’m over the moon.”

The day’s other final saw Cranleigh School claim the Festival plate bragging rights after outscoring Worth School by three tries to one for a 17-5 victory.

England and Harlequins star Brown watched on from the sidelines for both and admitted he had spotted a few future stars in not just those two games but across the whole day at the world’s largest school rugby tournament.

“There are some good kids out there, some very quick players. I remember when I was that age and couldn’t even stretch that quick,” he said.

“It will be good to see if any of them carry on all the way to the top level.

“The Rosslyn Park HSBC National Schools Sevens is massively important to help develop grassroots rugby and help the players down here move forward and hopefully they’ll enjoy their rugby even more so they want to carry on.”

The Open

It was also the turn of the schools in the Open to show what they could do with the competition getting up and running with the group stages on Thursday.

Those competing in the Open final will get the chance for a rematch at Twickenham in May during the London Sevens, the ninth and final round of the HSBC Sevens World Series, courtesy of HSBC.

And with so much at stake, there were understandably some impressive performances, including from reigning champions Millfield School who won all their group games to set up a knock-out match against Kirkham Grammar School on Friday.

Captain Bailey Ransom said: “We’re in good shape, have started the tournament really well and have showed we can cope under pressure.

“The challenge this year is as good as it always is at Rosslyn Park Sevens, you can’t afford to be complacent as defending champions, but we come here full of confidence and are looking forward to tomorrow.”