Our Year 11 boys had the fantastic experience of playing at the prestigious Sedbergh School Sevens rugby union tournament last week, ahead of their first-ever appearance at the biggest school’s rugby tournament in the world – the Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens – next week.
The lads are relatively new to sevens rugby, and the Sedbergh tournament features the best rugby schools in the North of England and Scotland. But they did themselves, coach Scott Ferguson and QEHS proud.
One of only two non-fee paying schools involved, QEHS – having made the long journey to the Cumbria-North Yorkshire border in glorious sunshine – lined up first against Woodhouse Grove, and were understandably very green to start with, and caught out a few times as we tried to play 15-man rugby tactics.
But we soon realised the need to retain possession of the ball in attack and stay on our feet on defence, and scored two good to win the second half to win the half – if not quite the match.
Second up were Stewart’s Melville, and our boys rose to the challenge of facing one of the most famous rugby schools in Scotland by producing their best performance of the day.
Against a team who made it to the tournament final, we finished the first half at two tries apiece, and pushed hard for the victory, only for SM to exploit the spaces created by our attacking rugby with two late tries.
Then came a tough encounter with another Scottish powerhouse – and the eventual tournament winners, George Watson’s College.
Ours was a performance with plenty of heart, but despite scoring a couple of fine tries, having a few less players than an outstanding opponents ultimately told.
Our final group game was against Kirkham Grammar, who started quickly and opened up a half-time lead which meant a spirited second half featuring two more very good delivered too little, too late.
QEHS’s final game of the day was against the team who had finished fifth in the other group – Rodillian Academy from Yorkshire.
After a hard day, the boys dug deep into their reserves and took an unassailable lead in a very open game with lots of end to end play to finish on a famous, confidence-boosting win ahead of their historic trip to Rosslyn Park.
Well done to all the boys and a big thank you to coach (and driver) Scott and Teddy’s dad Sam, who went down to support the team and take photos.
Respect. Engage. Aspire.
