Blundell’s sides from the U18s down to the U14 and U13s, with both girls and boys' sides, represented the school at this year’s International Schools Sevens Competition at Rosslyn Park. The U18 Boy and Girls, and the U16 Boys all got through tough groups and managed to make it into the much-coveted knockout rounds of the tournament. The U16 produced some outstanding sevens, none more impressive than keeping the ball alive for an extra 2 and half minutes at the end a game and working the ball through multiple phases to score a converted try, which brought them victory by 2 points in a crucial game.
The U18 boys produced some fantastic performances, beating the likes of Bryanston, George Watson, and Abingdon, to get into the Plate final. In spite of horrendous weather conditions and heavy ground under foot, the Blundell’s sevens style was out on show, in all 10 of their matches. The speedy movement of the ball, the decisiveness of their defence and the players’ work rate were all praised and commented on by the viewing audience and professional commentators, alike. In the final, the side came across the two-term rugby school, Stowe. Unfortunately it was a game too far, but they certainly deserve a huge amount of praise and credit for the quality of sevens on display.
The Girls’ 1st VII team played very scoring over 120 points and finishing second in their pool to Coleg Gwent who they lost 12-0 to in the vital group game. It was a very close game considering the Welsh side put 50 points on all the other teams in the group.
In atrocious conditions, we started well with a 42-0 win over RGS Worcester. Then a last gasp defeat to Tiffin School 15-14 was a devastating moment for the girls, meaning the last game against Worth School meant all the girls could enjoy the fact they experienced a wonderful tournament. With lots of girls experiencing their first Rosslyn Park, this bodes extremely well for the future.
And finally, the U13s had a memorable trip to Rosslyn Park and played some excellent rugby along the way, starting with a 10-10 draw against Portsmouth Grammar before securing an excellent win against Caterham by 25 – 5. After that, with some strong opponents and dreadful conditions, we struggled in the afternoon but never gave up – and learnt a lot about playing sevens rugby.
A big thank you to all the rugby coaches who accompanied the teams this year and well done to all of you who represented the school with such commitment and skill.
