At the end of March, we took 7s teams from across the school to compete in the Rosslyn Park National 7s, the ‘world’s largest school rugby tournament’. The senior boys led by Lower Sixth student Max and a strong performance from Upper Sixth Rhys made it into the plate placing in the top 24 schools in the country. Well done to them.
The senior girls went one better, with Upper Sixth student Beth leading the team to the Cup competition to place among the top 12 schools in the country, making history for the school.
Mrs Long, Head of Girls Games, reports back on the girls’ performances:
“On Day 1, we won three and lost one game and finished as runners up in our group – meaning we qualified for the Plate competition on Day 2. This was really exciting for us, as it’s the first time a Trinity girls’ team has ever qualified for Day 2.
“The team who won our group on Day 1, pulled out of the competition, so we were bumped up to the Cup competition for Day 2. This is where the best 12 teams in the country compete for the Cup and meant we ended up in the strongest pool, against the two eventual Cup finalists.
“It was a fantastic experience for our students, and meant the girls had the opportunity to play on pitch RE2 on the livestream and were supported by our JBug U11 team from the sidelines. The team narrowly lost to Gordon’s 22-24 and were competitive against the two other teams, although all ended in defeat. However, it was an unbelievable achievement considering only three of the 13 players had ever played rugby before joining Trinity. Two students – Alyssa (a GB sprinter) and Olivia (a London Pulse netball player) who have both never played rugby before – also got scouted by UR7s Academy!
“It was great to have the Senior Boys and Girls teams competing together for two days and it was wonderful to see them supporting each other. Thank you also to all the parents who were there on the day and were amazing! It was an absolute pleasure spending time with the girls and having the privilege of coaching them for the two days alongside Mr Beresford-Miller.”
Lower Sixth student Olivia said, “I really enjoyed playing at Rossyln because it was just a great experience. I have always been into sport and have done many whilst growing up, however never tried rugby. I think being competitive and coachable really helped me to grasp the basic concepts of the sport. I think it was the best environment to learn about rugby because everyone on the team and the coaches were understanding and encouraging, so I had fun. I believe that the judgement-free environment really helped to push us to play our best and in turn I got scouted! It was definitely a great team effort which was helped by the encouragement of the coaches. Due to this experience, I will continue to play rugby 7s because I have gained a passion for the sport.”
Team Captain Beth, who plays for the ‘Quins outside of school, said, “I was incredibly proud of all the girls in the team. Everyone came into the competition with few expectations, just to have a fun time; but each and every one of the girls really put in a shift, which resulted not only in our success, but also the rapid improvement and development of our team’s capabilities.
“Despite the fact that only myself and Lucy had ever played rugby before, the overall standard of play was excellent, even against far more experienced opposition! This resulted not only in progressing to the second day of the competition – thus making Trinity history – but also the opportunity to play in the Cup competition. Although we underwent losses in the second day, the team continued to improve; and most importantly, our heads were held high, and the enjoyment of everyone involved was palpable!
“Through this overwhelmingly positive experience, I think many of the girls have developed a new passion for rugby; and I will be very excited to see where said passion takes them in the future; and will certainly be down at Rosslyn next year to continue to support Trinity Girls Rugby!”
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