Congratulations to the ten schools from Year 7 to Year 11 who have reached the Finals of the London & South-East stage of the National Champion Schools Competition.
Nearly 1500 players from nearly 50 schools across the region took part in regional qualifying competitions in order to progress to the London Festivals, where the best half dozen teams from each age group competed for a place in the London Finals. The London Festivals all took place at St James' Boys School in Ashford, West London, over the last few weeks, and saw some great rugby league being played, and some fantastic rugby league talent on display.
St James' Boys were the most successful school so far, reaching the Final of both the Year 11 and Year 10 competitions, following on from their strong showing in the National Knock-Out rounds of these competitions last year, while South London teams reached four of the five finals. However, nine different schools reached the London Finals overall across the age groups, showing the breadth and depth of the competition across the region.
The following schools make up the Finals, which will be played in January at Chiswick RFC, home of London Broncos Women in 2025:
Year 7 - John Fisher (South London) vs Kings (Sussex) - 15th Jan, 12pm
Year 8 - Teddington School (Richmond) vs Langley Park (South London) - 29th Jan, 11am
Year 9 - Dorothy Stringer (Sussex) vs Kingsdale (South London) - 29th Jan, 12.30pm
Year 10 - St James Boys (Spelthorne) vs Graveney (South London) - 29th Jan, 2pm
Year 11 - St James Boys (Spelthorne) vs Turing House (Richmond) - 15th Jan, 1.30pm
The winners of these matches will proceed to the Round of 16 in the National Champion Schools Competition, and given the strength of the South-East schools we look forward to them providing strong competition to the schools from the heartlands. Langley Park progressed to the National Quarter-Final in the Year 7 competition last year, only losing to the eventual winners from St Helens, while St James Boys and Dorothy Stringer lost tight matches in Cumbria and Hull, and Hemel Hemptead School lost to a school from Warrington.
As usual, the Year 7 National Final will take place at Wembley Stadium before the Challenge Cup Final on 30th May, while the Year 8, 9 & 10 Finals will be the week of 29th June and the Year 11 Final will be on Wednesday 22nd April.
