St Joseph’s College took the Colts final in the Rosslyn Park HSBC National Schools Sevens with an impressive 21-10 win over Bedford Modern on Thursday.

The College were losing finalists back in 2010 but went one better this year with a ruthless performance against a very impressive Bedford side. St Joseph’s stormed into an early lead only for Bedford to pin them back to 7-5. But St Joseph’s regained their advantage with a try just before the break to make it 14-5.

And in the second-half, St Joseph’s added another try to their tally to make it 21-5 with Bedford scoring a late consolation try. 

St Joseph’s director of sport Mark Patterson paid tribute to his side. He said: “The boys were outstanding. We lost about three weeks ago in a big semi-final and the boys came back from it and said that they wanted to win Rosslyn Park to make up for it. 

“They’ve worked so hard for the past three weeks. We’ve had a few chaps on international duty so they’ve come back into the side alongside the other lads and they just added that little bit extra. But it was a solid team effort and they were superb over the two days.”

Guest of HSBC and British & Irish Lions legend Gareth Edwards presented the winning side with their trophy. Edwards was part of the victorious Millfield side that took the Opens title back in 1966 and he was hugely impressed with the standard of rugby on show from the Under-16s.

“It’s been fantastic to be a guest at this very prestigious Sevens tournament – having played in it for Millfield back in 1966. I’ve watched a few of their games today but I have been really impressed by the standard of play from the boys.

“The final was a fantastic game and it could have gone either way. There was good Sevens rugby on show. But what’s important here is that people have the chance to compete and enjoy themselves.”