School sport: Concerns over format as Brewin Dolphin season ends

A PROTRACTED Brewin Dolphin season concluded at Murrayfield last week when the finals of the under-16 Plate and the under-18 Bowl were played with respective wins for Hawick High School and Alva Academy.

Hawick High School defeated The Gordon Schools, Huntly, while Alva Academy edged out Bearsden/Douglas Academy composite. The week before, Jedburgh Grammar School won the under-16 Bowl and Glenalmond proved that playing other sports in the spring term can still be good for rugby by outgunning Glasgow High School in the under 18-Plate.

But the Brewin Dolphin season undoubtedly belonged to Stewart's-Melville College and Edinburgh Academy, who contested the Cup finals at both age groups, Stewart's-Melville winning the under-18 Cup and Edinburgh Academy the under-16 trophy.

What is clear from the Cup results this season is that the trend for Edinburgh schools to dominate shows no sign of ending. Disappointingly, Glasgow schools appear to have slipped into a lower league and there has been a fall-off in quality from hitherto strong Caledonia schools.

Disappointing, too, is the lack of a breakthrough by a state school, albeit that North Berwick High School and Marr College challenged well.

New this season was the champions league-style pool system that removed the possibility of top schools being knocked out in an early round. Some schools, though, have been unhappy with the pool system, several pointing out that it prolongs the competitions and others suggesting that there are too many mis-matches and inevitable dead rubbers.

But, below the Cup level, the pool system has been of benefit in providing fixture-starved schools with a chance for competition.

As a result, there have been calls to scrap the pool system for the Cup and reinstate the straight knock-out format. There is a feeling, too, among some schools, that there should be four different tiers to reflect the massive difference in standards within Scottish schools, with the top level consisting of only 16 sides.

Nor are schools enthusiastic about the competitions extending into the spring term. "Get it over by Christmas" is the cry. And little wonder.

Schools know that they will lose players to representative rugby and, moreover, that preliminary exams inevitably assume centre stage in terms of importance. Time perhaps for a Cup rethink.