Bristol Schools’ rugby player Finley Stenner was shocked by the standard of rugby at the Bristol Grammar School’s 7’s competition.
Stenner’s team, who usually play 15-a-side rugby union, had their first experience of the shorter format game at the tournament, earning a victory against Westonbirt to finish third in their pool.
The competition was dominated by private schools, with the Bristol team (which is a combination of schools from in and around the city) being the only side with state school representation.
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“It was a really enjoyable day out with the team but was certainly a learning curve against teams that play and train together all the time.”
The 18-year-old forward, who is capped by the Gibraltarian Under 20’s team, played in the first match of the tournament as Bristol slipped to a 27-0 defeat against King Edward’s School (KES) from Bath.
KES pride themselves on their ability to support the Bath academy, producing numerous professional players including current centre Max Ojomoh, showing the quality in rugby education that they offer to their pupils.
“The game against KES was a big shock for us in terms of getting used to the 7’s game style, but we learnt lots from that game which we took into our second match with Westonbirt,” Stenner said.
“We made sure to hold our feet more in the second game while we were in attack as in the first game we felt like we treated it like 15’s a little bit too much.
“Our support play was a lot better and I would say that was a big contributing factor towards us winning the game.”
In his second game, which was against Gloucestershire outfit Westonbirt, Stenner scored a brace of tries, bagging either side of half time.
He said: “I really enjoyed getting a couple of scores. It was a bit of a shock to be honest as I did not expect to run the ball in from so far away but I was glad to get some points.
“The first was off the back of a crossfield kick and felt like a proper 7’s try whilst the second was more like 15’s as a ran a hard line off my captain and bundled over.”
Unfortunately, Bristol were struck with injury and were unable to raise a team for their final game of the tournament with their squad so stretched.
Nevertheless, Stenner remained adamant that it was an enjoyable day out and one that he hopes to experience again with his team.
“We cannot wait to learn more about 7’s to be more prepared for future games and there will definitely be more to come from us on the rugby 7’s circuit,” he said.
