The Reading Schools Rugby Union Leagues
Brief History
The Reading Schools leagues were created in the 2011/12 season by Matt Hulland (Hugh Farringdon, now Bohunt), Sam Dodson (Theale, now Head of PE at Wallingford) with support of Russell Bolton. The first league had 8 teams in it. As teachers moved to new schools and the success was recognised more and more schools have joined which has now expanded into South Oxfordshire and into Wokingham District Schools.
It is now a very well established rugby union schools league which has been growing in stature to provide a platform for development and enjoyment for age group players from 12 through to 16.
In recent years schools outside the immediate Reading area including several in Oxfordshire have recognised the value. Matt Hulland has taken the helm of this significant program for the last few years and his commitment is to be commended. (If you see him and the other teachers please make sure that you let him know how grateful we are as a county. #berksrugby #bestofberkshire
It is now in its tenth season and has provided over 4,400 fixtures and featured over 500 teams during this time across 30+ schools.
For Season 2020/2021 there will be teams across two leagues per age group namely, Premiership and Conference.
| AGE GROUP | #TEAMS | #FIXTURES |
| Un 12 | 17 | 132 |
| Un 13 | 15 | 124 |
| Un 14 | 15 | 124 |
| Un 15 | 12 | 100 |
| Un 16 | 12 | 100 |
| TOTAL | 71 | 580 |
SCHOOLS REPRESENTED
There are 23 schools represented across 87 teams in the Reading Schools Rugby Union Leagues Season 2019/2020 include;
| Blessed Hugh Farringdon Sch (Reading) | Holme Grange School (Wokingham) | The Forest School (Wokingham) * |
| Bohunt School (Wokingham) | Maiden Erleigh School (Wokingham) | St Crispins School (Wokingham) |
| Kings Academy (Binfield) * | Piggot School* | Theale Green School (West Berks) |
| Denefield School (Tilehurst) | Prospect School | Waingels College |
| John Madejski Academy (South Reading) * | Highdown School | Little Heath School (Tilehurst) |
| Gillotts School (Oxon) | Reading School | Maiden Erleigh (Reading) |
| Willink School (Burghfield) |
- NEW TEAMS to join the league for the 2021/2022 season include; Kings Academy, John Madjeski Academy (U12 ONLY) Forest School, and Maiden Erleigh (Reading)
- Schools NOT entered for 2021/22 include ; St Crispins School, Piggot School, Chiltern Edge School, Langtree School (Oxon), St Birunius (Oxon), Oakbank School, The Wren School, Wallingford School (Oxon), Holme Grange School, Blue Coat School, Icknield Community College (Oxon), Bulmershe School, Langtree Sch (Oxon) and Reading Blue Coat School,
South Oxfordshire have established their own schools league after participating in the Reading Schools League previously.
FIXTURE DATES
The fixtures for the age group/league stages are played on Tuesdays to Thursday (dependant on age group) from 1st October (in a short game festival-style format). The top four teams in each age group progress to a 4 team festival FINALS DAY tournament which includes semi-finals and finals. (See Details below).
League
| AGE GROUP | DAY FIXTURES PLAYED |
| Un 12 | Tuesday Afternoons |
| Un 13 | Thursday Afternoons (and Monday 18th Oct) |
| Un 14 | Wednesday Afternoons |
| Un 15 | Tuesday Afternoons |
| Un 16 | Wednesday Afternoons |
FINALS DAY
| AGE GROUP | FINALS DAY | LOCATION |
| Un 12 (EAST & WEST) | Tues 9th Nov 2021 | Bohunt School |
| Un 13 | Wed 10th Nov 2021 | Bohunt School |
| Un 14 | Mon 15th Nov 2021 | Reading RFC |
| Un 15 | Tues 9th Nov 2021 | Reading Rugby Club |
| Un 16 | Wed 10th Nov 2021 | Reading RFC |
For more details on the current and previous seasons as well as to keep track on the current fixtures and league tables see http://www.rsfarugby.co.uk/
RECENT WINNERS – 2018/2019
| AGE GROUP | PREMIERSHIP WINNERS | CONFERENCE WINNERS |
| U16 | Gillotts School (Oxon) | Icknield Community College (Oxon) |
| U14 | Gillotts School (Oxon) | Maiden Erleigh School |
| U13 | Bohunt School | Bulmershe School |
| U12 | Bohunt School |
HONOURS
Below is a list of the players that have played in the Reading Schools leagues and gone on to gain higher honours.
| NAME | SCHOOL | CURRENT TEAM |
| Jack Willis | Highdown School | Wasps & England |
| Tom Willis | Highdown School | Wasps & England Un20’s |
| Jonny Williams | Little Heath School | Scarlets & Wales |
| Ben Loader | Reading School | London Irish & England Un20’s |
| Jacob Atkins | Forest School | London Irish |
| Ben Atkins | Forest School | London Irish |
SCHOOLS SEVENS
Matt Hulland as part of his commitment to youth rugby has recently grown the development of sevens with the school’s rugby structure. They have introduced this five seasons ago and the shorter game of sevens is across U12S, U13S, U14S and U16S. Look out for exact dates of competitions in May 2021.
RECENT WINNERS
| AGE GROUP | 2019 SEVENS WINNERS |
| U16S | Highdown School |
| U14S | Bohunt School |
| U13S | Highdown School |
| U12S | Bohunt School |
SEVENS WINNERS-2019
Bohunt School U14s
GIRLS RUGBY
SCHOOLS REPRESENTED
Reading Schools have also taken the initiative to promote girls rugby across Reading Schools and have opened it up to schools across the county. This is been led by Jermaine Webster (Head of PE at Denefield School). The competition enters its third season and starts in January 2020 with five schools currently represented across both U13S and U15S age groups.
| Bohunt School | Windsor School |
| Maiden Erleigh | Blessed Hugh Farringdon |
| Denefield |
Updated 13th Oct 2021
