St. Joseph’s College of Ipswich won the rematch of the Rosslyn Park HSBC National Schools 7s Colts Final, beating Bedford Modern in the preliminary match of the London Sevens at Twickenham – the final of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

The match, staged on the pitch at Twickenham, was the pre-cursor to the international sevens tournament kicking off and a replay of the 2012 Colts’ Final which was also won by St. Joseph’s.

Watching from the side lines were England Sevens head coach Ben Ryan, New Zealand Sevens coach Gordon Tietjens, England Sevens star Christian Lewis-Pratt and HSBC ambassador and Rugby World Cup winner Jason Robinson.

In a hard fought match, Bedford took an early lead scoring two tries in quick succession, the second a clean break from Ethan Smart down the left. Just before half time St. Joseph’s regained momentum and a try-scoring break from Austin Beckett meant the score at halftime was 12-7 to Bedford.

St. Joseph’s carried the momentum into the second half scoring three unanswered tries with George Wacokecoke, Daniel Lewis and Cameron Ives all touching down to leave the final result 26-12 in favour of St. Joseph’s.

Bedford Modern Director of Rugby, Rob Hardwick commented: “It is such a great idea to have the winners of The Rosslyn Park HSBC National Schools Sevens winners playing again at the London Sevens as the pre-cursor to the international Series. The students were blown away by the experience and meeting Jason Robinson and Christian Lewis-Pratt was amazing for them. The score line probably flattered them a bit and it was the same result as Rosslyn Park but most importantly it was an unforgettable experience for us all.”

Mark Patterson, Director of Sport at St. Joseph’s added: “As soon as we mentioned it to the children they were excited about the prospect of going to the London Sevens and playing on the pitch at Twickenham. It was a nice touch to have the two best under 16 sevens teams in the country showing off their skills at the final of the HSBC Sevens World Series. We played nine games at Rosslyn Park and won that and the curtain raiser was a one-off match so the boys were really excited about playing. We stayed and watched the international sevens afterwards which we all enjoyed.”

The match, played each year ahead of the start of the international sevens tournament starting is a celebration of HSBC’s sponsorship of the world largest schools sevens festival, the Rosslyn Park HSBC National School Sevens and as the first ever title sponsor of the HSBC Sevens World Series.