Felsted School director of sport Charlie Knightley wonders if his side's Continental Tyres Schools Cup success was written in the stars.

Felsted emerged 42-19 winners over Ivybridge Community College to make it second time lucky at Twickenham after losing the under-18s Vase final at the same venue 11 years ago.

Felsted edged several thrillers to book their place at the home of rugby and Knightley was relieved they made the showpiece a more comfortable watch. 

“We’ve had some real nail-biters with our last three or four games down right to the wire and any of those sides could have won,” he said.

“Maybe our name was on the trophy, you’re never quite sure. We chanced our arm and hung in games.

“This was a little bit more comfortable which for the coaches was maybe a little bit better. I think it will take a while for the boys to come down from this.”

Victory for Felsted was largely a result of a breath-taking first-half performance.

Two tries from Jessie Cotterill and scores from Peter Scofield and Dylan Reynolds as well as second-half touch downs from Player of the Match Harry Courts and Marcus Windsor helped Felsted to a memorable victory.

The day was also a celebration of girls rugby with 30 schools participating in the Girls' U12 Love Rugby Showcase Festival.

The schools were recognised and invited due to the development of their girls' rugby offering and display of the RFU’s Core Rugby Values.

Many of the girls playing at Twickenham were new to the sport, demonstrating the growth of the game supported by over 22,000 age grade girls registrations in the 2023/24 season.

Knightley said of the Twickenham experience: “You start the day with the nerves hoping the boys will rise to the occasion and that was exactly what they did.”

“We feel for Ivybridge, we were here 11 years ago and lost in the snow.

“The achievement is massive for them as well so congratulations to them. But I think we outplayed them on the day, certainly in the first half and probably killed the game off there.

“We were hanging on a little bit in the second half as they came back but catch up rugby is quite tough in a final.”

The Continental Tyres Schools Cup is an important part of the age-grade rugby landscape in England, with schools’ rugby often where players fall in love with the game for the first time. For more information visit the Continental Tyres Schools Cup section of the England Rugby Website