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Wimbledon College is where England coach Ben Ryan learnt his trade and today his former school did him proud in taking the Junior competition. Wimbledon proved to be the class act of the Tournament in scoring a minimum of 30 points in their 5 knock-out games.

Whilst their rivals were battling out close games in the Quarters, Wimbledon progressed with an efficient display against Eltham, winning the game 30-15. They were joined in the semi-finals by Whitgift, Llandaff and Campion.

Llandaff had proved to be the top Welsh side in the tournament, beating Bradford, Maes Yr Yrfa and Judd before taking the field against Whitgift in the semi-final. It proved to be the match of the tournament. The Welsh side had some real power in the midfield for such a young age group. The Whitgift side defended valiantly and waited for their chances. With the game in the balance, it came down to conversions, with which the Welsh side had sway. The match finished 19-17 to Llanddaff. Though Whitgift were disappointed, they had proved, once more, that the school has the uncanny ability of creating future talent akin to their most famous son; Danny Cipriani.

Wimbledon joined Llandaff in the final with a relatively routine win over
Campion. The south-west London side just had too much for their rivals from Hornchurch. From the outset they found their wide men and stretched the Campion defense until the holes appeared. Wimbledon capitalised on that. Campion had proved throughout the tournament that they were no push over. Some swift attacking play was withstood by Wimbledon college. So they broke the hearts of the young Campion side by winning the game 30-12.

The final matched the two best sides in the tournament, with Llandaff and Wimbledon deserving to fight it out for the honours. Much like their semi-final against Campion, Wimbledon came out hard and got themselves in front. They had some good play in the midfield leading to space out wide for their pacemen. Llandaff showed their skill in scoring a try of their own, but found themselves down at half-time.

It was more of the same in the second period with Wimbledon in control, scoring once again out wide. Llandaff defended better than the score showed and did themselves proud. But Wimbledon proved too much for the Welsh side and won both the match and the title of National Schools Champion 34-12.

The tournament was played in great spirit throughout. It showed that, with the numbers of schools entered and on the waiting list, the GB side for the 2016 Olympics is going to be in good shape. Many of these young players will be going on to compete in the older age-groups and possibly International 7s.