Millfield crowned champions at St Joseph’s Rugby Festival

25 Nov 2022

Millfield crowned champions at St Joseph’s Rugby Festival for a record eighth time

Millfield Rugby have been crowned St Joseph’s Rugby Festival Champions for a record eighth time. The victory makes Millfield the most successful team in the tournament’s history, and the first ever team to win the prestigious competition in consecutive years.

The St Joseph’s Nati Rugby Festival is a schools rugby union competition and has been established since 1987. The tournament, held at St. Joseph’s School, Ipswich, is a highlight of the school rugby calendar. The competition has seen a list of England players feature including Chris Robshaw, British and Irish Lion, Mako Vunipola and Jonathan Joseph, all of which attended Millfield and played schoolboy rugby.

Following an unbeaten 2021-2022 season, Millfield were named as the number one rugby school in the world in NextGenXV’s annual rankings. However, they were not favourites to win in Ipswich, but came into the event in good form, having clinched a 31-28 win in The School’s Championship away to Wellington College just eight days before. The seven-time champions came through the group stages in comfortable fashion, before knockout-stage wins against RGS High Wycombe and Denstone College set up a final with reigning Schools National Cup champions Trinity College. Against tough opposition, Millfield’s defence ­­– which only conceded 10 points throughout the whole competition – held firm once again as they clinched an 8-0 victory and the 2022 title in the process. Upper Sixth Millfield student George Cottrell was also the recipient of the try of the tournament award.

Millfield Director of Rugby, John Mallett, said “It’s an extraordinary achievement from this group of boys, they’ve exceeded our expectations with the level of their performances this weekend. They’ve created some special memories and we’re delighted to be St Joseph’s winners for an eighth time. The boys prepared themselves really well and it’s great to see their hard work rewarded with this result.”

The main aim of Millfield Rugby is to enhance individual players in a challenging environment with development at the forefront of training. Millfield Sport work closely with players for further conditioning, physiotherapy and performance analysis to uncover each individual’s greatest potential. This, combined with a team of 18 specialist coaches, maintains Millfield’s rugby legacy as a leading establishment in the pathway to elite rugby.