Success At Rosslyn Park National 7s
Published on isbi School News dated Tuesday 28th of March 2023
The School rugby teams competed in the 2023 Rosslyn Park 7s tournament, with over 250 schools participating at each age group over two days. It is the world’s largest school’s rugby tournament.
The U18s started well, winning all three of their pool games and resulting in an elimination game against Oundle School. In a closely fought game, the boys showed tremendous grit to win the game 22-19 and progress to the second day of the competition.
On the second day, the team continued winning their three group games and progressed to the quarter-final where they met St Edwards School. Here, they played some excellent Rugby 7s in testing conditions and the boys recorded an impressive 22-5 result. In the semi-final, the team faced King’s School Macclesfield. After going behind in the early stages of the game, the boys worked tremendously hard to be 14-12 up with one minute left to play. Unfortunately, King’s Macclesfield managed to score with the final play of the game. The boys should be immensely proud of their achievement finishing the day as one of the top four schools in the country.
The U16 team rose to the challenge by winning all of their group games without conceding a single point, which set up their elimination game against Rugby School. The boys saved their best performance of the day to win the game 52-0.
The second day started well with the team winning their first game against Haileybury 21-12. In the next game, they lost 10-12 against a powerful Leys School. In the final group game, the team knew they needed to win against Trinity School to give them any chance of remaining in the Cup competition, and they delivered this with an impressive 27-0 victory.
The U16 boys continued their good form with a resounding 40-12 victory over Eton School in the quarter-final. The semi-final set up a rematch with the Leys School. On the main pitch, the boys used the extra space well to secure a 10-7 victory and a place in the National Final. In tough conditions, the boys literally ran themselves into the ground against a very strong Harrow side, unfortunately coming up just short with the final score 10-0. The boys must be commended for their achievement of now being ranked the second-best team in the country.
The U13 Rugby 7s team came away with two victories, two draws and one loss. The draws came against Dean Close School and Westbourne House, losing narrowly to King’s House School and winning their matches against Hall Grove and Packwood Haughton. There was lots of great rugby played and great to see so much improvement over the past couple of weeks.
