Last week, King Edward’s School, Bath, stunned the world of school rugby by winning the Rosslyn Park Under 18 Vase: the biggest national sevens tournament going and the pinnacle of the sport. It was an extraordinary achievement to lift the trophy – and to do so unbeaten across the two days of competition – and a testament to what has been building, with quiet honesty and relentless determination, inside the rugby programme at KES for years. Here, we look at the seven ingredients that have made this Sevens victory possible.
1) Culture
Head of Rugby, Sean Lilley, has embedded a culture of ‘consistent aspirational challenge’ within the rugby programme’s pathway, from the first day of Junior School sport to fine-tuning the Senior performance teams, embracing the value in challenging young people to adapt to problems in a learning environment, whatever the training context. This culture is embedded in the school’s values (which include ‘learn together, grow together’) but are further refined in a sports environment of accountability in which such capable students thrive. ‘Honesty’ is the key word, according to John Tidball, a Deputy Head and fellow 1st XV coach. There is a high-level of trust in team-mates and coaches, which also includes moments of ‘brutal honesty’ that can only be delivered when a culture is rooted in mutual respect. Lilley recognized such honesty was integral to their victory in the final group match against Hymers on Day One, and he knew the players had the resilience to hear it.
2) Process
Consistency in the messaging and a basic framework starts with the Under 13s and builds from there. Lilley thinks of the rugby programme as a seven-year scheme of work, in which every step brings another level of competency, focus, complexity and experience. That said, every team has its own identity – some year groups have heavyweight strength in the pack, other rely on dynamic pace and agility out wide – and this is nurtured with bespoke attention and specialist coaching. Within the meticulous tactical detail is an autonomy for the players on the pitch; no ‘Playstation coaching’ here. The one piece of consistent messaging is the core mindset: in attack and defence you react to the opposition on the pitch. Attend any training session, and you will hear Lilley shout ‘Pictures’ at his players, empowering them to break the system if they see an option or a threat outside of a pre-conceived plan. Lilley himself is always thinking about ‘value added’ and trying to become an ‘efficient’ coach in a brilliantly busy school environment, where his players can go from a national debating or drama competition to after-school circuit training. He thinks about coaching like a teacher, because he is one, seeking to differentiate his coaching and to learn lessons from every process. Last year’s plate final loss at Sedbergh 10s brought a renewed focus on skills and execution at times of acute pressure or fatigue, as well as giving individual players bespoke targets to hit their peak. Technology is harnessed with video review sessions in the school’s e-sports suite and players clip and review their key performance indicators from the weekend’s fixture.
3) Big Games
Lilley and Tidball embrace a fixture list that will be as challenging and confronting as possible, including most recently introducing an exhibition match against a travelling Argentinian tour side. ‘You never set a season up to be unbeaten. What’s the point in that?’ He wants his sides to get better and learn more, regardless of the result or winning percentages. This Rosslyn Park winning group can be plotted on a seven-year path to the top table: Under 13 Port Regis winners for the first time in the school’s history; Under 16 Wycliffe Sevens winners, but who then lost on day two of Rosslyn Park; this year’s semi-finalists at the West of England Sevens in the build-up to the Nationals. While they have endured galling losses (including a Plate Final loss at Sedbergh in golden score extra time last year) they have beaten sides like Millfield and Cheltenham College, helping to foster a no-fear attitude. The loss to Kingswood this season – the 1st XV’s only defeat of a historically successful season, under floodlights at the university campus – was an uncharacteristically flat performance. But Lilley and Tidball remember what happened next with delight: unprompted, and within minutes of the final whistle, the senior players posted a heartfelt congratulations to the opposition on Instagram. They finished the XVs season by adding a final, challenging fixture against Devonshire heavyweights Ivybridge, and duly won.
4) Strength and Conditioning
The coaches place a huge currency on the physical attributes of their teams. Not in an old-fashioned sense of ‘bulking’ but in building fit, athletic, strong teams that have the conditioning to go the distance and protect player safety, as embodied by the fact the full squad of 12 boys were fit to play in the final. Led by Tom Fisher, a targeted strength-and-conditioning programme, started last summer as the school opened its state-of-the-art new gym. There has been a consistency even down to the level of detail in the metronomic habits of plyometric movements of the warm-up from the summer pre-season, through to the 15 and 7s season. This has also helped solidify trust and honesty whilst developing a mindset of confidence when stepping onto the pitch, irrespective of the opposition. ‘It is about carving out time and finding the gaps in an immensely busy day. Historically, the opposition has felt too well-conditioned and too well-trained,’ says Tidball. Not anymore.
5) Heritage
Lilley has received a personal congratulations message from every 1st XV captain from the decade he has spent at the school (he started as a specialist coach under his brother, Craig, who is now head of Bath Rugby Academy). Tidball has been inundated by messages from alumni, some of whom left KES nearly 30 years ago. Many have highlighted their cherished memories of rugby and sevens at KES, and voice an understanding of the magnitude of the achievement. More meaningfully still, they speak to their sense of connection to it and to the team. As an institution of education first and foremost, there is a meaningful legacy left by this rugby programme, which embeds itself in the character of those who have been through it and about which they talk with immense gratitude years later. At Rosslyn Park, Player of the tournament, Henry, spoke in his post-match interview about the bond that he had with the boys in the team, having known them and played alongside them since Junior School. In fact, many of the school’s most famous rugby alumni started playing in the Junior School or Year 7. This includes Bath professionals Chris Goodman, Guy Mercer and Max Ojomoh, who started in the Nursery at KES and went all the way through to Sixth Form.
6) Support Network
The school – and these senior year groups especially – have a strong group of parents and grandparents who are devoted advocates and supporters for rugby, and form a vital support network, both logistically and emotionally. They are prepared to challenge their sons or daughters (KES took an Under 18 Girls Team to Rosslyn Park, too), as well as their coaches, in a respectful way, but are unfailingly supportive in the way that matters. Selection can bring difficult decisions and conversations, and Lilley will always pick up the telephone or talk face-to-face rather than write an email. Former team-mates remain a presence on the touchline and a select handful of alumni have gone on to play professionally. This also builds into squad mentality when players do not get selected: the key moment of the final group game (which would determine if KES would proceed to the Vase knockout) the wider squad was utilized and the faith in each other paid off.
7) Character
Lilley and Tidball are motivated to develop the boys as players and people. The coaches put it simply: ‘we ask them to stay measured and humble throughout the day’. Because of that focus on remaining grounded, ‘the highs are never too high and the lows are never too low for this group of boys’. After the first day of pre-season this year, when you might expect to see rogue kit, empty bottles and banana skins strewn across the pitch, the senior coaches noticed the pitches were immaculate and the messages were hitting home: be honest, be humble. Players are expected to thank the groundstaff and catering teams; basic courtesies that matter in building a culture of good character. ‘The senior boys in this Sevens squad are a special group for their tenacity, their courage and their sense of being team. Unfailingly honest with each other in a way that true mates can be.’ In a rugby shirt, they display competitive spirit, a desire to win and athletic prowess but also resilience, camaraderie and respect for each other, the opposition and the game.
King Edward’s teams were once a plucky group of kids with a good attitude and a rare potential to overachieve, not anymore.
About The 2025 Howden Rosslyn Park National School Sevens tournament
- The World’s largest school rugby tournament, with approx. 15,000 participants across the different age and format competitions
- U18 Boys Vase (24-25th March) – 224 entrants. Day 1 56 groups of four (round robin) ahead of a 28-match elimination round. 28 winners return on Day 2 to play seven groups of four (round robin), with the seven group winners and best runner-up progressing to the Vase QF, SF and Final.
- KES results
- Day 1 Group, Maidstone Grammar School 29-14, Glenalmond College 24-12, Hymers College 40-7
- Day 1 Elimination Round vs New Hall School 31-14
- Day 2 Group, The Windsor Boys’ School 19-0, Reed’s School 31-7, Lord Wandsworth College 27-21
- Quarter-Final Caterham School 36-5
- Semi-Final St Albans School 29-0
- Final Cheltenham College 12-7. Player of the Vase tournament: Henry Derwent (KES)
