Five London Schools Progress to the National Knock-Out Rounds after a great Finals Series, with some outstanding talent on show

Congratulations to the London Champions in the National Schools Rugby League Competition! The finals all took place with the support of the RFL, the London Rugby League Foundation and the London Broncos at Chiswick RFC, with trophies and medals awarded by London Broncos Players Siliva Havili, Jake Ramsden, Sam Davies and Brandon Webster-Mansfield.

St James Boys Year 11s were the winners in the stand-out tie of the London Finals, winning 30-26 in golden point extra time. A determined Turing House had overturned a 14-0 early deficit to tie the match at full-time, and nearly snatched a dramatic comeback win with a drop goal in extra time, which shaved the edge of the posts. However, it wasn’t to be as St James’ classy dummy half and half-back pairing went up to the other end of the pitch to break the Turing hearts.

Elsewhere, John Fisher were too strong for a spirited Kings side in the Year 7 competition. Kings had held John Fisher to only 8-6 at half-time, but Fisher pulled away in the second half thanks to some quality ball playing at half back, and some strong runners out wide, and eventually ran out 36-6 victors.

In the Year 8s, Teddington ran out to a 24-10 half-time lead despite some good footwork and solid defence from Langley Park. However, Teddington eventually took the trophy 44-20, with some great tries in the second half.

The Year 9 competition saw Dorothy Stringer take on Kingsdale. Dorothy Stringer scored three early tries to move to take them to 14-0, but Kingsdale hung in and some strong carries up front and great finishing out wide reduced arrears to 20-10 at half-time. Dorothy Stringer scored soon after half-time, however, and won the match 36-16.

The Year 10s competition saw a great match between St James Boys and Graveney, who were making their first appearance in the Final. St James were leading 16-0 at half time after some quality play, but Graveney hit back in the second half with two fantastic long range tries , and caused a few jitters in the St James’ camp, before finally going down 26-16.

Year 7 - John Fisher (South London) 36 beat vs Kings (Sussex) 6

Players of the Match – John Fisher: Chidi Okechukwu and Kings: Joe Kirkpatrick

Year 8 - Teddington School (Richmond) 44 beat Langley Park (South London) 20

Players of the Match - Teddington: Jasper Ford and Langley Park: Jack Kemp-Jones

Year 9 - Dorothy Stringer (Sussex) 36 beat Kingsdale (South London) 16

Players of the Match - Dorothy Stringer: Jack Bell and Kingsdale: Robbie Heritage

Year 10 - St James Boys (Spelthorne) 26 beat Graveney (South London) 16

Players of the Match - St James:  Dan Broomby and Graveney: James Cruickshank

Year 11 - St James Boys (Spelthorne) 30 beat Turing House (Richmond) 26

Players of the Match - St James: Ethan Shaw and Turing House: Josh Tay

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.

If you would like to take part in the Competition next year, please email Steve Guan at the RFL at Stephen.Guan@rfl.co.uk, or email us at londonrugbyleaguefoundationorg@gmail.com.