Rydal Penrhos School put in a great performance to finish runners-up in the Deutsche Bank Schools Six Nations last weekend, the best result achieved by the school in the tournament’s history. This was the school’s fourth visit since the competition (previously known as the Powder Byrne Six Nations) started, and once again Rydal Penrhos was the only Welsh school amongst the eight competing in this prestigious tournament.
The goal this year was to improve on the school’s previous record as plate winners two years ago, and losing semi-finalists in the main competition last year. The Rydal Penrhos team certainly succeeded in this aim by playing and beating some of the best rugby schools in the UK to get to the tournament final, before eventually losing out to The Campion School. In addition, Rydal Penrhos player Richard Roberts was awarded Player of the Tournament for his five tournament tries, three of which were truly outstanding.
The tournament was opened by HRH Princess Anne and Lord Coe, who welcomed the eight participating schools from England, Scotland, Andorra and Wales. Rydal Penrhos captain Jake Lovatt and coach Latham Tawhai were both introduced to HRH, along with other team captains and coaches. On the second evening of the tournament, the players attended the annual dinner of host club London Scottish RFC at Twickenham Stadium, where amongst others they were entertained by Jamie Murray, brother of tennis star Andy Murray.
The tournament format was a round robin with two groups. In the first round of their group, Rydal Penrhos played and beat the defending champions St Paul’s School, 21-7, and Downside School 22-0 before losing to a large Eastbourne College side 0-7. This was, however, good enough to qualify for the main cup competition with the top two teams, Scotland’s Fettes College and The Campion School, from the other group.
In the second round, Rydal Penrhos were level 5-5 at half time against Fettes, but played with increasing confidence to score a second and converted try to win 12-5. After their first-round loss to Eastbourne College, the Rydal Penrhos players then showed great composure when under pressure to beat Eastbourne 19-12, which put them through to the cup final against The Campion School. In the final, one defensive error saw Campion ahead by one score at half time. Despite having ample possession throughout the game and controlling all aspects of the tackle area, Rydal Penrhos struggled to match Campion’s pace on the outside, and despite a last and well-deserved score for Matthew Griffiths, the final score was 7-19.
The team was presented with the losing cup finalists’ medals by Colin Grassie, CEO of UK Operations for Deutsche Bank, and Richard Roberts was awarded Player of the Tournament by Rod Lynch, President of London Scottish.