The North of England Schools 7s takes place this Sunday, one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year and the key stepping stone on the road to the Rosslyn Park National School 7s for everyone in attendance.
Sedbergh won last year’s tournament with some utterly stunning performances, with this year’s skipper Ben Redshaw starring. The England U18 international was named joint player of the tournament with Barnard Castle’s Harry Williams. The two shared the Graeme Marrs Memorial Trophy.
This year Sedbergh will be among the favourites again and, in a new dawn for the tournament, which first began in 1989, NextGenXV will be live streaming all of the action from pitch 1 on the main Birkenhead Park FC site.
That will include the Bowing Trophy and the Boodle and Dunthorne Salver finals, all the Trophy semi finals and quarter finals, and all of the Salver quarter finals, and all of the Group A action.
Live Stream Schedule
10am Austin Friars v Sedbergh 10.18am Ampleforth v Shrewsbury 10.36am Hereford Cathedral v Sedbergh 10.54am Ampleforth v Austin Friars 11.12am Hereford Cathedral v Shrewsbury 11.30am Ampleforth v Sedbergh 11.48am Austin Friars v Shrewsbury 12.06pm Ampleforth v Hereford Cathedral 12.24pm Sedbergh v Shrewsbury 12.42pm Austin Friars v Hereford Cathedral 1.40pm Salver QF1 2pm Salver QF2 2.20pm Salver QF3 2.40pm Salver QF4 3pm Trophy QF1 3.20pm Trophy QF2 3.40pm Trophy QF3 4pm Trophy QF4 4.20pm Trophy SF1 4.40pm Trophy SF2 5.10pm Salver Final 5.30pm Trophy Final
In total there are 40 schools competing in this flagship event in the north west of England, split into eight groups of five. The 8 Group winners will progress to the Bowing Trophy Quarter Finals, with the eight runners up entering the Boodle & Dunthorne Salver quarter finals, won last year by King’s Worcester, meanwhile third placed sides will progress to the Bowl quarter finals, which was won last year by Old Swinford Hospital in the first ever edition of the Bowl.
The tournament is split across three sites, Birkenhead Park FC, Birkenhead School, and St Anselm’s College. Birkenhead Park FC is the main site for the tournament and will host all of the knockout rounds as well as all the action from Group A. Groups B, C, D, and E will compete at Birkenhead School, while St Anselm’s College will host Group F, Group G, and Group H.
With forty sides involved, including some of the very best in the country, this really is one of the toughest test on the school calendar. Sedbergh have been the strongest force through the competition’s history, winning ten titles and finishing runner up in another three, plus a couple of Salver victories as well.
Kirkham Grammar School have been hunting them down though, earning four titles, most recently in 2015 and 2017. They reached the final in 2020 and would have been a force last year too were it not for their appearance in the Schools Cup final a few days later.
More striking though is that despite the tournament running since 1989 only two other sides have claimed multiple titles, Stonyhurst, who won three in the 90s, and Cowley, who won the first two tournaments but have since slipped off the radar. Other than that it is a carousel of one-time champions, showing just how competitive and unpredictable this tournament can be – though Barnard Castle must feel somewhat unlucky, they had reached three finals before finally getting their hands on the Trophy in 2020.
North of England Schools 7s Draw
Group A: Ampleforth, Austin Friars, Hereford Cathedral, Sedbergh, Shrewsbury Group B: AKS Lytham, Dame Allan's, Kirkham, Lancaster RGS, King's Hospital Group C: King's Worcester, Llandovery, Loretto, Pocklington, QEGS Wakefield Group D: Barnard Castle, Birkdale, Calday Grange, Ellesmere, Manchester GS Group E: Malvern, Mount St Mary's, Stourport, The Grange, Woodhouse Grove Group F: Ipswich, Hymers, Newcastle School for Boys, Old Swinford, Wirral GS Group G: Llandrillo, Denstone, Repton, Queen Ethelburga's, St David's Group H: Durham, Harrogate, Merchant Taylors', RGS Newcastle, St Anselm's
If you are interested in having your games live streamed, please get in touch via [email protected]
