Harrow clinched their first-ever Rosslyn Park National Schools 7s U18s Cup title as they beat Brighton 15-10 in a memorable final.
It is testament to both sides, and all that played across the five days, that the tournament was memorable not for the deluge of mud that lined the pitches throughout – especially on the final day – but for the quality of rugby that was played as the junior game continues its seemingly nonstop improvement.
“In these conditions the big thing that we learned was that individual stuff wasn’t going to work,” Harrow master in charge of rugby James Melville said. “So we had to really focus on trusting the process that we put in place early on, and just hope that we were able to control every game.
“That’s what the boys did really well. We found that we got better as the weather got worse, we had a bit of a slow start but pushed through that and kept going, and just adapted against strong, fast outfits.
“To win here for the first time is unbelievable, they are an incredible group and they’ve worked really hard. When it comes down to it, it was all about effort today. No matter what, the team tried their hardest and pushed themselves for every single minute.”
The “slow start” referred to by Melville saw Harrow draw to Myerscough College, but three wins by 38 points or more in their other three group games ensured passage into day two.
Brighton had failed to reach the second day in one of the shocks of last year, and after losing their opening group game to Exeter College it appeared the same might happen.
But they also won their other group games comfortably to go through and topped their day two “Group of Death” containing Hampton, Denstone and pre-tournament favourites Sedbergh.
After Harrow hammered Myerscough in the second group stage and also saw off giants in Trinity and Kirkham, they secured their place in the final with a 21-5 win over Berkhamstead.
Brighton reached that stage after beating Clifton College 17-7, and though they trailed 10-5 at the break, levelled the scores with a try underneath the sticks.
With the mud as bad as it was however, the ball didn’t get off the ground, and Brighton knew they needed a winner to clinch the title with Harrow having scored first.
But it was Harrow who stole the ball and ran in the try to seal the win and join the illustrious list of schools to have won the most coveted prize in the competition. Cranleigh are one of those schools, and had beaten Harrow in their only previous final in 2016.
They took home the Plate after coming from behind in the final, and a disappointing opening day, to beat last year’s cup finalists Millfield 17- 14. Coach John Andrews said: “We dusted ourselves down and set ourselves a clear target for day two to win this plate.
“We had to fight hard for it but fair play to the boys, they adapted and dug it out really well.”
