Millfield boys top of the class again
THERE were all sorts of sports to enjoy on the goggle box or laptop last weekend. The usual Premiership Rugby fare, the start of the T20 World Cup, the British Road Cycling Championships, but more often than not, I found myself dipping into the excellent live feed of the St Joseph’s National Fifteens Festival.
Many thanks to the splendid people at NextGenXV for laying that on by the way and a perennial hat tip to St Joseph’s for organising the entire glorious shindig. I can’t claim to have seen all the relevant action over the two days but caught a good proportion and it was time well spent.
After a miserable 18 months of seething inactivity, lost opportunities, talented year groups thwarted in their prime and cancelled tours, Schools rugby – which remains the heart of the English game for me – was back with a vengeance. It was heart-warming to see, even from afar. Old rivalries reignited and friendships renewed away from the heat of battle.
Technically, Schools rugby has been back for a month or so with all our rugby playing schools resuming their traditional fixtures at the start of term but watching 16 of our top sides gathered at one venue over two days of intense competition seemed like a genuine moment of rebirth.
In compiling The Rugby Paper’s school of the week series over the last 15 months I have spoken regularly with various masters in charge and coaches and frankly, at times, doubled up as a counselling service! The sheer bloody frustration and feeling of helplessness of not being able to do the job they loved and for their beloved teams to be left stranded high and dry, denied the mateship and experience that a tough season together can bring, came through loud and clear. It was a trial to be endured.
I’ve been covering the St Joseph’s festival intermittently since the late 80s when it was a fledgling competition and it very quickly created an Autumn half-term niche of its own quite different from the Rosslyn Park Sevens every March and the season-long Daily Mail Cup – latterly the NatWest Cup – which emerged in the 90s and other national knockout competitions.
It’s quickfire and features the best of the best although to a certain extent the cast list changes. But that’s half the appeal, just getting the call is an achievement in itself as St Joseph’s invite 15 of the top schools of the country to their manor for the weekend to slug it out. It’s highly competitive and in that high pressure environment you can spot the future fifteens stars more surely than in any other age group competition.
Tournament standouts over the many years have included Andy Goode in Bromsgrove days, Sedbergh’s James Simpson-Daniel, Millfield’s Jonathan Joseph, Mako Vunipola and Olly Morgan, Zach Mercer from Merchiston Castle, and the RGS High Wycombe contingent of Matt Dawson, Nick Duncombe, Tomasso Allen, Christian Wade – scarcely a hand was laid on Wade in three successive tournaments – and Tom Rees.
The home school produced an outstanding player themselves in 2012 when Lewis Ludlam guided St Joseph’s to victory. In 2016 the player of the tournament was a certain Marcus Smith.
This year saw a slight tinkering with the format from pre Covid times – 25-minute games as opposed to 30 and this time going straight into knock-out phases on the second day – which seemed to encourage even closer, lower scoring games than usual and I have no problem with that.
Every match felt like a cup tie, even the pool games on Saturday, and that is surely what sport is all about. Every tackle and try counted. No cruising, no operating in your comfort zone, no safety net as we are seeing in the Premiership this season with no relegation.
There were a number of low scoring draws and a couple of penalty shoot-outs on day two to add to the drama and the standard of kicking and composure was impressive. The penalty shoot-out rather got a slagging in 2009 after the famous Leicester v Cardiff showdown in the Heineken Cup but they are box office and slotting a 22m penalty is not a skill that should be beyond most. Senior rugby needs to see more of them.
Some things never change though, reassuringly so, and one such hardy annual is that Millfield are invariably the team to beat. As it happened the famous sporting conveyor belt from Street were pitched against another pre-tournament favourite in Brighton College in their opening pool game and scrapped out a torrid 0-0 draw.
Other sides perhaps sensed blood in the water. Could one of the big boys miss out on their expected berth in the quarter-finals? But both kept their cool and marched confidently through to the final in the gloaming on Sunday afternoon.
Lock Oli Smith scored an early try for Millfield but another second row Harry Brown replied in kind for Brighton. Come the second half, fine work from Sam Harris and Joe Denmark set up exciting wing Kamoto Kamanga-Durbak for what proved to be the winning score although they had to absorb huge pressure from Brighton before the final whistle.
Brighton’s No.8 and skipper Jonny Morris followed in some big footsteps by taking the player of the tournament award. Watch the name, while Wellington College Berks sealed third place in the consolation final with an 8-0 win over Dulwich College.