The St Joseph's College, Ipswich National Schoolboy Rugby Festival is a schools

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

competition in the UK. The Festival was started in 1987 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 record of featuring future

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

players, including former captain

Chris Robshaw Chris Robshaw (born 4 June 1986) is an English former rugby union player. He was the captain of the England national rugby union team from January 2012 until December 2015. Robshaw's position of choice was in the back row of the scrum, usually ...

, British and Irish Lion

Mako Vunipola Mako Vunipola (born 14 January 1991) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a loosehead prop for English club Saracens and the England national team. Born in New Zealand to Tongan parents, he qualified for England through residenc ...

Charlie Sharples Charlie Sharples (born 17 August 1989) is a former English rugby union footballer, who last played in the Aviva Premiership for Gloucester. He plays as a wing. Sharples was born in Hong Kong. As a former Gloucestershire district athlete, Sharpl ...

Mike Tindall Michael James Tindall, (born 18 October 1978) is an English former rugby union player. Tindall played outside centre for Bath and Gloucester, and won 75 caps for England between 2000 and 2011. He was a member of the England squad which won ...

, Jonathan Joseph,

Zach Mercer Zach Mercer (born 28 June 1997) is an English rugby union player who plays as a number eight or a flanker for Montpellier in the Top 14. Early life Mercer was born in Leeds and grew up near Halifax. He played junior rugby for Old Brodleians ...

and most recently Marcus Smith, who won player of the tournament for

Brighton College Brighton College is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18); Brighton College Preparatory Sc ...

in 2016. 16 British teams, including hosts St Joseph's, compete in a 2 day competition. On day 1, 4 groups of 4, drawn randomly, play each other. On day 2, the top 2 from each group enter the De La Salle Cup and the bottom 2 enter the plate competition. Past De La Salle winners include John Fisher School, Millfield, Brighton College and St Joseph's College.

Player(s) of the Tournament

References

{{Reflist Rugby union cup competitions in England