Inaugural Manchester Sevens Report

The inaugural Manchester 7s Schools Festival took place over the weekend of the 9/10 March and was a fantastic success. In total 66 schools teams from around UK took part in the 3 day festival held at Broughton Park RUFC, near the Manchester city centre.

Festival Director, Marco Vaghetti, was very pleased – “We very much enjoyed staging our inaugural schools festival and the feedback so far has been excellent.

We have begun planning towards the 2014 Festival and encouragingly many of the schools who attended and some that could not have already declared their interest to enter.”

On Friday, the organisers worked in partnership with the RFU to stage an Emerging Schools competition. Many of the schools had not played 7s previously and an enjoyable day was had by all.

There was an awful lot to like about the weekend: The festival atmosphere, the suppliers village, the Zorbing, the climbing wall and the opportunity for the boys to watch a full men’s game on the Saturday. What really stood out was the potential for the tournament to grow: there is plenty of space for more schools to attend plus a fantastic showcase pitch. It’s also relatively unique in the North in that over one weekend it caters for U12/13/14/15/18. We look forward to following the tournament as it evolves.

Saturday saw four tournaments ranging from U12s – U15s. The passion and enthusiasm for the 7s format was notable in all teams and many parents and friends came along to cheer on their schools. The following teams ran out winners – Loughborough (U12s), Altrincham (U13s), Glantaf (U14s) and Altrincham (U15s).

Sunday welcomed the U16s and U18s and even the threat of snow! It was a cold and windy day for 7s making it hard for schools to put prolonged phases together, non the less the standard and commitment was there for all to see. Trent College were the deserved winners in the U18s, having been impressive and undefeated throughout the day, and in the U16s Ellesmere College were crowned champions.

Away from the rugby the festival served up a pleasant atmosphere, with a variety of clothing shops, climbing wall and zorbing for kids, Navy careers team and a hog roast lunch for all the school masters.

Special mention to Ampleforth College, who travelled down from Yorkshire very late on Sunday morning upon the cancellation of the Mount St Marys 7s to partake in our U18s tournament.

Dates for the 2014 Festival will be announced very shortly to ensure all schools masters can pencil the date in their diaries before the summer break. To enter our competition to win free entry for all your teams into the 2014 Manchester 7s Schools Festival, please declare your interest by emailing your name and school to info@mr7s.com.

Many thanks to all the schools, volunteers and referees who supported the inaugural Manchester 7s Schools Festival, we look forward to welcoming you back in 2014.

For all the results and to see the winners check out the microsite MR7s>>

For the Competition Video visit: http://www.mr7s.com/schools/2013/03/2013-report-video-photos/