Wellington College became only the second school in the 41-year history of QE’s annual Rugby Sevens to ‘do the double’ – winning both the U16 and U14 main cup competitions.
QE itself fielded A and B sides in both competitions, which each attracted 32 teams this year. Both QE A teams advanced to the quarter-finals of the respective plate competitions.
PE teacher James Clarke, who organised this year’s event, said: “Given the strength of the field, the QE A teams’ results represent a considerable achievement. Overall, it was a good day, amid playing conditions that were a little wet and very muddy.”
The only other school to have won both main cup competitions in the Queen Elizabeth’s School Seven-a-Side Tournament is Eltham College, which achieved this feat in 1986.
This year, at U16 level, Wellington beat Whitgift School 24-7 in the cup final, while in the plate final, Aylesbury Grammar School won with a 29-0 score against Hampton School. In the U14 competition, Wellington saw off Eton College 21-10; in the plate final, Brighton emerged as 21-5 victors against the London Oratory School. Other leading schools taking part in the competition included Bedford, St Paul’s, Dulwich College and Merchant Taylors’.
Teams play three matches in a group of four teams, with the group winners and runners-up moving on to the quarter-finals of the cup and plate competitions respectively.
QE’s two wins in the U16 main cup came in 1979 and 1983, with a plate victory in 2002. The School has enjoyed greater success at U14 level, with cup victories in 1987, 1989 and 1997, and plate wins in 1982 and 1993.
Mr Clarke, who is an Old Elizabethan (1999–2004) was assisted, among many others, by two familiar faces, Mark Peplow and David Maughan, who are both former QE Heads of Games. Mr Peplow was at the School from 2002 to 2016, while Mr Maughan, Head of Games from 1974–2003, was instrumental in founding the QE Sevens tournament in 1976 and then nurturing its subsequent growth. A renowned rugby coach, he managed the England U16 team until 2013.
Matches were played at the School and at Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Club in Byng Road.