Our resident experts, Angus Savage and Tom Pulley of Next Gen XV, cast their eye over the best rugby-playing schools in 2024. But who will make the 2025 list?
What makes the school game so different to the professional game is that every year is a clean slate. Pupils finish their time at school, a new team is pulled together and how they will perform is often not what you expect.
School seasons also vary by hemisphere. The 2024 season is over in the South while we’re halfway through the 2024-25 northern hemisphere season. All of which goes some way to explaining why more than half of the schools that make this year’s list didn’t feature in 2023. Plenty has changed!
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1 Paul Roos Gimnasium, South Africa
Paul Roos win a lineout (Getty Images)
The undisputed best school side in South Africa in 2024. And if you’re the best in South Africa, you’re going to be knocking pretty hard on the door to be considered as the best in the world. It was a stunning 2024 for Paul Roos, who weren’t even in the Top 12 in 2023.
They defeated two other South African giants on this list, Paarl Gim and Grey College, to go through the season unbeaten. Their crowning glory came in their final game at home to Grey College, when they sealed a stunning 36-3 victory to secure the unbeaten record and condemned their opponents to their heaviest-ever defeat by a fellow South African school.
The only downside? It came right in the middle of the U18 International series, between South Africa’s games with Ireland and England. Do we need a global calendar to extend down to the school game too?
A few of Paul Roos Gimnasium’s young stars were involved in that series, notably Riley Norton and Oliver Reid, who might well soon follow in the footsteps of World Cup-winning Springbok alumni like Willie le Roux, Steven Kitshoff and Damian Willemse.
2 Tauranga Boys College, New Zealand
Tauranga, one of the best rugby schools, celebrate their season (Getty Images)
Another side to go unbeaten who weren’t even on the list in 2023. Tauranga Boys College had perhaps their best season ever as they charged on relentlessly, along the way beating last year’s tenth-best side in the world, Napier Boys, 52-12 and last year’s best side, Hamilton Boys HS, 20-18.
The season came to a head in the final of the New Zealand Super 8, where they beat defending champions Hamilton 37-0 in the final. A quite outstanding season from Tauranga and one that will go down in history.
With Sam Cane among their alumni, there is plenty of rugby pedigree here, but the 2024 vintage that includes U18 internationals Aidan Spratley, Mason Verster and Charlie Sinton might just be the best of the lot.
3 Nudgee College, Australia
Nudgee is among one of the best rugby schools (Getty Images)
Up from ninth last year after an incredible season. For the third year in a row, Nudgee won the Great Public Schools Association of Queensland title, and they did so in style.
They went unbeaten through the season and in dominant fashion too. Along the way they defeated Barker College, last year’s second-best side in the world, an early-season result that set them on the road to one of their great campaigns.
Nudgee have a long history of producing top players, such as Wallabies James O’Connor, Rocky Elsom and Sean McMahon. With John Grenfell and Nick Conway gaining U18 international honours this year, there may yet be more to come.
4 Blackrock College Ireland
Blackrock is one of the best rugby schools in the world (Getty Images)
Sixth in 2023, Blackrock College climb to fourth this year after winning the Leinster Schools Senior Cup for an astonishing 71st time back in March. They defeated another on this list, St Michael’s College, in the final and have started 2024-25 in fine form too – including a gritty victory over English giants Sedbergh, payback for a painful defeat to them a year ago.
Arguably the best-known rugby school in the world, Blackrock can boast Fergus Slattery, Brian O’Driscoll, Garry Ringrose, Hugo Keenan, Caelan Doris and Joe McCarthy among a host of Ireland internationals to have passed through their ranks.
There will surely be many more to add to that list; Charlie Molony, Sami Bishti, Michael Walsh, Conor O’Shaughnessy, Brian O’Flaherty, Donnacha McGuire and Johnny O’Sullivan were all capped at U18 level in 2024.
5 Harrow School, England
Harrow is one of the best schools in England (Getty Images)
Another new entry, Harrow’s 2023-24 season was one of the great seasons in English schools history as the London side went unbeaten to secure the Daily Mail Trophy, top spot in the NextGenXV table and a first-ever Continental Tyres U18 Schools Cup title – No 8 Reggie Hammick scoring a try at the death to beat a Kirkham Grammar School side that also arrived unbeaten.
The start of this season has been tougher, but they are still considered among the best in England. Three of the stars of that 2023-24 side – Kepu Tuipulotu, Charlie Griffin and Hammick – are in England’s U20 Elite Player Squad, while current skipper Sam Winters recently signed his first professional contract with Bath.
6 Hamilton Boys High School, New Zealand
Hamilton in a huddle (Getty Images)
Last year’s No 1 side slide down to sixth but make no mistake, they were outstanding in 2024. Tauranga were the only school to get the better of them all season, as they still reached the final of the New Zealand Super 8, won the New Zealand Top 4 competition and the Chiefs regional competition.
Warren Gatland’s old school are serially outstanding, reaching the Top 4 Finals nine times in 11 years, with this year being their sixth title. Alumni include current All Blacks Sevu Reece and Cortez Ratima, plus Fiji’s Caleb Muntz and Scotland’s Sean Maitland.
7 Paarl Gimnasium, South Africa
The school is just one of many South African establishments included (Getty Images)
Down from third in 2023 to seventh, but another outstanding season from Paarl Gim. Only this year’s No 1 side, Paul Roos, and fellow South Africa giants Grey College defeated them, and even then by just six and two points respectively – that was how close Paarl Gim came to featuring far higher on this list.
Their crowning glory was their final match, the derby against Paarl Boys High School, the biggest school game in the world. Played in front of more than 20,000 spectators, Paarl Gim were dominant en route to a 30-8 victory. An outstanding year for Paarl Gim in which Markus Muller was capped at U18 level.
8 Grey College, South Africa
Grey’s players embrace (Getty Images)
It’s a sign of just how good Grey College are that they’ll probably reflect on 2024 with disappointment, despite making this top 12 list. Once again, they were the dominant side in Free State, going through the season with just two losses.
Standouts included AJ Meyer, Ethan Adams, Alzeadon Felix and Pieter van der Merwe, who all played for South Africa U18. They actually beat Paarl Gim but the nature of their two defeats sees them slip behind them into eighth.
A shock defeat to Jeppe in March was a blow, but it was the 36-3 loss to Paul Roos in August that really stung. They host the NextGen XV Global School Challenge this December.
9 Sedbergh School, England
Sedbergh school in action (Getty Images)
Right now, Sedbergh are probably the strongest school side in England. The 2023-24 season didn’t start how they wanted, hence their absence from the 2023 list, but it certainly finished how they wanted with a dramatic late try securing them the annual Sedbergh Super 10s title for the first time since the pandemic, following a few years of Kirkham Grammar School dominance.
That final flourish at the end of last season has given way to an outstanding start to 2024 in which they’ve beaten every English side put before them. That quality is reflected in Archie Appleby, Fergus Mainey and Will Bennett all earning England U18 camp call-ups.
They’ll hope to follow in the footsteps of, among others, Cameron Redpath, Bevan Rodd and Josh Hodge, all plying their trade in the Gallagher Premiership.
10 St Michael’s College, Ireland
St Michaels in action (Getty Images)
Over the last ten years, St Michael’s have become one of the worlds’s most feared and recognised rugby schools. A run to the Leinster Schools Senior Cup final last March showed their quality. That quality then shone through in abundance at the St Joseph’s College National Schools Festival, one of England’s biggest competitions.
Irish sides seldom participate but St Michael’s rose to the challenge and demonstrated why Irish schools rugby is so revered. They were utterly dominant en route to the title, conceding just three times across the six-game weekend. Their captain, second-row Dylan McNeice, is an U18 international, as is Ethan Black, who was named Player of the Tournament at St Joseph’s.
11 Llandovery College, Wales
Players celebrate in the rain (Getty Images)
Llandovery had an exceptional 2023-24 as they became the first team to win the Welsh Schools & Colleges U18 Cup, defeating Ysgol Glantaf 28-13 at the Principality Stadium.
The impressive run saw Carwyn Jones and Will Evans earn Wales U18 recognition, following in the footsteps of legends such as Alun Wyn Jones and George North. Back-to-back titles titles are very much in play for the school known to some as ‘The Eton of Wales’.
12 Kirkham Grammar School, England
Seb Kelly for Harrow (Getty Images)
Are we fudging this because Kirkham Grammar School’s achievements fell between the 2023 list and this one? Perhaps. But the 2023-24 season was an outstanding one for Kirkham, sealing a maiden St Joseph’s Festival title.
They went unbeaten all season until the final game, the Continental Tyres Schools Cup final in March, when a last-gasp Harrow score denied them. This is a special year for Kirkham, celebrating 100 years of rugby at the school. With Seb Kelly and Ollie Davies capped by England U18 in 2024, and Sebi Krippner in the latest squad, they’ll hope some of the class of 2024 might later shine on even bigger stages.
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