OLD Swinford Hospital School are among the teams to watch when the SOCS Daily Mail Schools Trophy resumes early next month after half term.

The West Midlanders have some tough games ahead but they have been boosted by victory in the inaugural John Fisher Festival for state schools staged last weekend, before the holidays began.

Coached by former England scrum-half Shaun Perry, OSH have an improving squad who did not concede a single point on the second day of the tournament featuring seven stamina-sapping games (10 minutes each way) over the two days.

Director of rugby Andrew Coalter was delighted at the success after a mixed start to their Trophy campaign, with three wins from five matches. ‘We thought we would be competitive last weekend and we showed tremendous resilience on the last day to not concede a point,’ he reflected.

A 12-0 win in the final over The Judd, the Tonbridge school, included a crucial try from fly-half Will Terry and a conversion from scrum-half Owen Clews, who is part of the Leicester academy. Besides this impressive halfback pairing, OSH have been driven on by star prop Solomon Tyler-Gordon, as well as captain Ollie McCarthy in the back row.

The success follows OSH pulling off a double in the 2022-23 season when two age group teams won national titles at Twickenham. Now, OSH are looking forward to matches in the Trophy including a clash with local rivals King’s Worcester and another powerful state team in Northampton School for Boys.

CLIFTON have gone top of the table after defeating Millfield 31-26, previously unbeaten Taunton School 43-19, and Sir Thomas Rich’s 72-12 in the past fortnight. Their campaign has produced six wins from seven, including an opening victory over holders Harrow. However, Clifton only have three scheduled Trophy games left and may need to rely on Sedbergh slipping up to claim a first title.

By contrast, Sedbergh have seven Trophy games to play after posting five wins from five — highlighted by a 21-19 win over Clifton — which may prove to be crucial in another hectic Trophy edition.