St Joseph's Rugby Festival


The St Joseph's College, Ipswich National Schoolboy Rugby Festival is a major schools rugby union competition in the UK.
The National Schools Rugby Festival was started in 1986 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the College. Schools invited to take part come from both the state and independent sectors. The Festival has a track record as a proving ground of future stars: former England captain Chris Robshaw, British and Irish Lion Mako Vunipola, England winger Charlie Sharples, and Zach Mercer, Player of the Tournament 2014, who went on to help England to the World Rugby U20 Championship in June. Mike Tindall is another who trod the St Joseph’s turf. Jonathan Joseph was named player of the tournament for Millfield School. The most recent success is Marcus Smith who won the player of the tournament for Brighton College in 2016, a year later he and Zach Mercer are Eddie Jones' apprentices in the England Training Camps.
16 of the UK's best schoolboy rugby teams, including the hosts St Joseph's, compete in the 2 day competition. On day 1 there are 4 groups of 4, randomly drawn to compete against one another with the top 2 teams from each group going into the De La Salle cup competition on the second day. The bottom 2 teams on the first day go through to the plate competition on the second day.
Past De La Salle winners include John Fisher School, Millfield, Brighton College and St Joseph's College.
The Festival regularly gathers a crowd of 3,000 spectators over the weekend and is streamed online by over 35,000 people.

Player of the Tournament

YearWinnerSchoolRef
2006Ryan ManyikaBrighton College
2007Luke PlummerFilton College
2008Jonathan Joseph Millfield School
2009Chris SmartBedford School
2010Alex DaySt Joseph's College
2011Max Northcote-GreenMillfield School
2012Sam DenhamMillfield School
2013Dan Lewis
Lewis Ludlam 		St Joseph's College
2014Zach Mercer Merchiston Castle School
2015Roman Malin-HiscockHampton School
2016Marcus SmithBrighton College
2017Toby SmithBrighton College
2018Dan JohnMillfield School-