Thank you to Hartpury College for providing this feedback:
Q: Did attending the World Schools festival interfere in any way with Hartpury’s normal local rugby schedule and if yes what was the impact and what arrangements if any were made to overcome this?
A: No. Our Under-18 schedule is winding up by Easter time in the UK so this Festival did not impact our normal arrangements
Q: With the under-18 international Six Nations series on the go, did it prevent any Hartpury players from touring with the team due to national commitments?
A: Yes. Unfortunately we had to leave several players behind and, of course, these are among our strongest talents. We had multiple call-ups from England and Wales, as well as one player required by Ireland, meaning that we were without 8 first choice players. Having said this, we appreciate that timing a global festival has it’s challenges – luckily we have some strength in depth (although possibly not quite enough, as our second result at Paarl demonstrated!).
Q: Will Hartpury consider attending next year’s festival and what are the reasons for this decision?
A: If we are invited, we would certainly be interested in returning. Our boys enjoyed the experience immensely.
Q: Are there any improvements Hartpury would like to see made to the festival?
A: We might have some suggestions once we have had our ‘de-brief’. However, we would prefer to share these with the organisers in the first instance. Overall, we were very happy with the experience.
About Hartpury (from their website)
Hartpury College and University Centre is one of the UK’s leading land-based and sports educational establishments. Our stunning specialist campus covers more than 360 hectares and is located near to both Gloucester and Cheltenham.
(Beet: the men’s varsity team has just won the BUCS -the British Universities and Colleges Sport – for rugby, while the women’s varsity rugby team ended up as losing finalists.)
Today it has more than 1500 students working towards foundation degrees, honours degrees and postgraduate qualifications in equine, sport and animal and land studies.
(Beet: They even have students completing Rugby Diplomas)
Hartpury also offers A Levels and BTEC Diplomas to more than 1600 full time students, as well as professional courses in leadership and management, teaching and training, animal care, dog grooming, equine studies, land-based studies, first aid and health and safety.
Hartpury is the world’s largest equine education establishment, hosting three international equine events, and regularly wins national titles in rugby and football as well as rowing, golf, modern pentathlon and netball.
Festival should equal enjoyment..in that sense it seems to be a success. Schoolboy rugby provided the impetus, now it can hopefully grow into something bigger and better. You have to start somewhere!
This is great info – also another indication that the tournament was enjoyable and not a failure as some opinion makers would want us to believe.