The opening day of the 2024 Howden Rosslyn Park National Schools 7s certainly lived up to the hype with an outstanding day of action on the field and a brilliant atmosphere off it.
The Boys U18 Vase and Girls U16 were on the cards and both gave us fireworks, while off the field it may have been muddy at 8am but by the time play kicked off at 10am the sun was shining, the smiles were out, and the joy at the return of the Howden Rosslyn Park National Schools 7s was evident for all.
It carries on again for four more glorious days and you can watch all the action through the week on Pitches RE1 and RE2 LIVE on our YouTube Channel.
U16 Girls Cup
The first trophy of the week was on offer on Monday in the U16 Girls Cup and it was last year’s runners up that claimed it, Ivybridge Community College. The Devon side were outstanding all day long and in Alice Flemming they had by far and away the Limitless Player of the Tournament, after an outstanding display in the final against Millfield, and throughout the rest of the day.
They had got to that final with a fantastic qualifying round victory over Cwmbran before topping a Cup Pool G ahead of Hill House and KES Bath, no mean feat.
After that though was knockout rugby, and they had to be at their sharpest in the quarter finals against Dubai English Speaking College, winning 31-12. Then came a semi final against a hugely impressive Samuel Whitbread Academy side, yet Ivybridge were flying, winning 45-5 and whispers of a title run had turned to shouts. Millfield meanwhile had topped their group ahead of Monkton Combe and Oakham before beating two Welsh side in their knockouts, Bro Teifi and Glantaf, in crackers both; 35-22 and 24-17 respectively.
That took us to the final, where Ivybridge were simply outstanding. Millfield gave it everything but nothing could stop this superb Ivybridge side, who took the first trophy of the week with a stunning 34-5 victory.
Welsh side Bryn Celynnog took the Plate, beating Seaford College 22-14 in an epic final, both sides deserved to come away with real credit, but the Welsh outfit just had enough to get the job done and were presented with the Plate by former England captain Jason Robinson, representing title sponsors Howden.
Watch all the action from RE1 and RE2 on our Youtube Channel
U18 Boys Vase
In the U18 Vase a staggering 252 teams are now reduced to just 28 heading into day 2 on Tuesday after an utterly brilliant days play. It all began with a group stage, with only the winners progressing to an elimination round that would see the winners head through to Day 2, and the losers head home. (You can see the final group standings at the foot of this article).
28 sides emerged victorious and are now placed into Day 2 Groups, with 7 groups of four teams each. Those group winners and the best runner up will head to the Cup quarter finals, with the remaining two runners up heading to the Bowl Semi Finals Pools.
Tuesday’s pools look exciting, with Bedford Modern, St Paul’s, Dollar Academy, and 2022 Bowl winners St Peter’s York all in Pool A. Meanwhile Bishop Wordsworth’s, Christ College Brecon, New Hall, and a St Edward’s Oxford side whose stunning performances have marked them out as one of the favourites.
Over in Pool C it will be Taunton School, Dauntsey’s, a strong looking Sevenoaks side, and an excellent Grammar School at Leeds team going at it, meanwhile in Pool D things look very tasty, St Albans have been sublime on Day 1 but so too have Marlborough College, with City of London Freemen’s and Lancaster RGS sure to challenge hard as well.
Pool E meanwhile has a strong Scottish flavour, with both Merchiston Castle and Strathallan making it through, they will be up against Magdalen College and Kingswood in what is a really exciting pool. Pool F looks brilliant, Schools Plate finalists Uppingham have been one of the sensations of the day and will be excited about the pool, but so will a bang in form Millfield 2nd VII and Harrogate Grammar School, Belgium’s Waterloo Schools are making a big case for being the first ever International U18 champions. Over in Pool G, look out for a bit of local rivalry in a pool of death that sees Stamford and Whitchurch High School up against Gloucestershire’s Whitchurch High School and Dean Close.
A huge day of action awaits in the Vase, picking a champion looks near impossible. It’s going to be a fun ride!
Watch all the action from day two on our Youtube Channel