On Friday 24th March fifteen students, accompanied by Mr Everett and Mr Masterson, set off to take part in the U13 Caldicott National Schools 10’s festival.  The team spent the evening and night being hosted in the Caldicott boarding house, socialising with the other teams and sussing out the opposition. A huge thank you must go to Caldicott Prep and the staff for such warm and generous hosting. After a good night’s rest and hearty breakfast the team was ready for the gruelling tournament ahead. The tournament format ran as a 9 team league table, with every team playing each other in a round robin format over 10 minute matches. The QEGS team’s quiet confidence was dealt an early blow with a 2-1 first fixture loss to Northampton School for Boys. However, after showing some true QEGS spirit the team bounced back into action with thumping 7-1 and 3-1 victories over Cheadle Hulme School and Taunton School respectively, leaving them second in the table heading into the lunch break. After working through some defensive tactical changes during the lunch break, the QEGS machine roared into full flight with tournament defining demolitions of the hosts Caldicott 6-0, Berkhamsted 5-2 and perennial rivals Warwick 3-0.

Next came the toughest test of the day, against pre-tournament favourites and current table toppers RGS High Wycombe. After trading blows through the match, the QEGS team found themselves trailing 2-1 with the clock in the red. A scrum on our 22m line gave a brief glimmer of hope, from which the team roused a magnificent fifteen plus phase try, showing incredible compuse and resilience to score under the posts and walk away with a 2-2 draw. QEGS finished off their tournament with a routine 7-1 win against a good Danes Hill side, leaving them top of the table and overall National Schools 10’s Champions. A gigantic congratulations must go to the team and wider squad, who have worked so incredibly hard all year to achieve this success. A special mention must go to Joshua Akintolu 8DNG who finished the day as tournament top try scorer, Harry Taylor 8DBR who played every minute of the tournament, as well as Harry Taylor 8DBR and Hugo Colver 8MPR who as co-captains led the team superbly.