RGS U13 "Storm" through Inclement Weather to win National 7s Title!

by Roy Carlisle, Daily Scrum Managing Editor
The u13 7s squad(apologies for any omissions)

Fabio Batista
Jordan Scott
Ollie Wilson
Chris Carlisle
Jonty Purvis
Jamie Toms
Luke Cooper
Tom Howe
Dom White
George Price
Josh Pinchess
Seb Annible
Will Sevety

During the appalling inclement weather of the last 2 days, the u13 7s squad provided a ray of sunshine for RGS in the prestigious National 7s Competition, emerging as the best of over 100 top school teams & winning the title for RGS for the first time since 1990.
(Apparently it is so long ago, that Mr Stubbs was in the last winning u13 team!)
A fantastic achievement by all the boys in the squad, who (sorry for the obvious pun) as the only unbeaten side ,blew away all the opposition over the 2 day competition.

RGS Points for -195. Points against-36

Also a fantastic end to the season for the squad led by Mr Copeland ,building on their Bradford 10s success under Mr Scourfield / Mr Mead (more later) and of course capitalising on the success of the full squad and all u13 teams this season under Coaches Chris Manderson & Elliot O'Brien.
Everyone played their part and I have to say that this reporter and the travelling support were too excited to write down too many notes!
And so for the story of the competition:-

Day One-the Group Stages
The squad arrived to a sunny ground just of the A3 Kingston Bypass albeit with a number of pitches out due to waterlogged consitions.
Needless to say as the first match kicked off, the heavens opened to rain of such biblical proportions that this correspondent would not have been surprised if Noah had sailed past in his ARK!
However rather than counting them "two by two", the first pool match result was more than that-RGS 36 Haberdasher Askes Hatcham-0.
A good start and as the waether worsened , the  triumvirate of supporting parents raced to the coffee tent and the boys raced back to get under cover.
Round two 45 minutes later was a comfotable 31-0 win over Denstone College, with the boys winning the rucks & mauls, handling well despite the rain releasing the speed merchants for the line & conducting excellent defence to keep a clean sheet.
By the time round 3 against Yarm came round,the rain was coming in hard with gusts of wind driving it acorss at about 30 degress and certainly this was the wettest that this correspondent has been in a great many years.
Still the boys started well and scored under the posts, 7-0.
However full credit to Yarm and they came straight back, with cold RGS hands meaning that couple of tackles were missed to make it 7-5.
However the boys previaled and scored two tries, even if the wind made kicking from hand from almostb the 22 was impossible!
Final score RGS 17 Yarm -5.

So the team and had won their group which meant that 2 knock out rounds before the finals beckoned.
Then suddenly thunder & lightening menat it was all called off, initially for the day and then the news that it was all cancelled.
So the team went home unbeaten in the Nationals, thinking that was that.
But a phone call at about 8pm on Monday night meant it was going to start as planned on Tuesday.
Much excitement in houses across South Bucks as the lads realised that were going back to see if they could win it.
Game on!

Day Two-The Knockout / Final Stages

The objective was simple-win every match or we would be out and back up the A3 in short order!
However the lads were in great form, switched on and confident!
But first it appeared that QEGS, whom we had beaten easily at the Bradford 10s, had gone home and we had a bye to the second knock out round.
Before we could play the final group match had to be settled between the super chaps from Campbell College Belfast & our friends from London Oratory.
Final result Oratory 19, Campbell 14.
So it was to be Oratory who had won controversially in the last 15s game who were to stand between the lads and further progression in this group winners knock out match.

"Come on lads , let's win this one for Ollie Bullock," was the comment as they took to the field.
However, the RGS lads were completely fair and knew who had to be tackled to prevent an Oratory score.
Again the rain picked up pace and so did the lads running in a number of early tries which completely shattered Oratory's confidence to the ragged cheers of the Campbell College lads.

Despite a late consolation try for Oratory it was RGS 29 Oratory 7.
Job done and a point proved.

And so to the Quarter Final was to be against Judd, who did look good, but whom the lads had beaten at 15 a side earlier in the season.
Again RGS proved too strong outclassing Judd, final score RGS 29, Judd 5.
So to the semi final against the sharpest looking team in the competition, our old chums, Colstons.
Having swapped a few war stories with a Captain in the Household Cavalry who watching (in combats, not on a horse,) this correspondent was interseted to find out that he had won the competition some years previously with Canford school.
More interestingly he commented that while we had better speed, agression and defence, Colstons were handling the ball extermely well.
As all battles are won on information, this piece of military intelligence was passed to the lads and the key Colstons men were targeted.
Again as had happened all day RGS got off to a good start only to have Colstons tie the score at 7-7, through that predicted slick movement of the ball.
Far too stressful for words.
However the lads played their game and stopped Colston from playing theirs and suddenly we were way ahead with a number of further tries which Colstons couldn't catch.
An outstanding performance from the boys with a number of individuals raising their games to an even higher level than we already seen.
Simply outstanding!

Final score RGS 29, Colstons, 12.

A magnificent win against frankly the competition favourites.
We parents were looking for the valium to calm the nerves, but suddenly the sun started shining!
The lads were still looking fit and nicely confident.
"We can win this," one said.
"No," came back a chorus, " We are going to win it."
And with that they went off for a stretch with enthusiastic "stretching chants."
So the final against Emmanuel College Clapham who had shown that they had some speed merchants in earlier rounds.
They also had the award winning BBC Correspondent, Fergal Keane on the touchline watching his son.
Would he be writing, "A Letter from the A3 Bypass-the Story of how my Son's School Triumphed in the Nationals?"
We hoped not.

So the match kicked off with hearts pumping and much breatheless enthusiasm.
But enough of the increasing group of parents, the lads on the field repeated the pattern of an early score.
RGS 5 Emann 0.
But Emman counter attacked and scored under the post, to make it 5-7.
Too much for the parents, but the lads calmly won the ball back to score 12-7 at half time.
RGS still looked the best side but it was nerve wracking to watch.
The second half started with a fast RGS try, with all the players working the ball incessantly and keeping around 80% of the possession.
Then another couple of tries, with parents anxiously checking watches ,the Emman coach getting more frantic while Fergal had stopped scribbling notes-no Radio 4 diary would be broadcast on this match.
Suddenly the whistle blew!

RGS 24, Emmanuel, 7!
Victory!

The team whom everyone was concerned about in early year 7 had pulled off the first win in this competition since 1990!
And it wa completely deserved as no one had looked good enough to beat them over the 2 days.
A credit to themselves, Mr Copeland. Scourfield and Mandy & Elliot!
As the "famous" Henry Paul presented the winners cup, the sun split the skies over the A3 as it rose over Richmond Park.
It doesn't get any better then this.
Well done to all concerned.
A truly memorable result!
As was the Bradford 10s result last Saturday.

All the squad members above plus Harry Brown, Dan Angwin played out of their socks to win the Bradford u13 10s competition winning 5 games out of 5 against Harrogate, Edinburgh, Crossley Heath, QEGS & Bradford GS.
This coupled with a fantastic RGS u14 winning performance & a good RGS U12 performance meant that the school won the overall trophy.
Fantastic rugby from the school.

Well that's it for this season!
See you all on the touchline in September or at the Sportsmans on April 03-I can sort you out with tickets, plus FRORGS Membership.
Some of us are going for abeer tonight 12 March 8pm at the Saracens Head, Beaconsfield-all welcome.
Finally, well done to all the lads in this and the other age groups.
Fantastic boys, well done!

Cheers

Roy Carlisle

Daily Scrum Editor