Dollar seek final success as tribute to coach Foster

Dollar Academy’s under-16 team will run out this weekend at Murrayfield looking to win the first national rugby trophy for the school since 2005 and, if they do so, the victory will be dedicated to the man who shaped rugby there for nearly three decades.

John Foster bowed out as director of sport at the Clackmannanshire school earlier this year after 28 years on the staff.

And he will be taking a very keen interest when the current under-16 team take on their counterparts from George Watson’s College in the Brewin Dolphin Scottish Schools Cup final on Saturday (4pm).

Foster, who won Scottish Rugby’s Spirit of Rugby award in May, coached the school’s under-18 side to five Scottish Schools Cup finals between 2000 to 2007.

Dollar’s first XV lost the 2000 and 2007 finals but, in 2003, 2004 and 2005, teams, which included the likes of Scotland cap John Barclay and current Heriot’s captain Graham Wilson, lifted the trophy in a golden era.

Other top players such as Rory Lawson, Graeme Morrison and Jim Thompson benefited from time spent with Foster and Dollar’s head of PE Steve Newton said: “John has been down to watch the school’s rugby teams this season. He is still so enthusiastic like he always has been.

“The school, and myself personally, owe a lot to John and it would be fitting if the under-16 team could win this Saturday for him as well as for the wider Dollar family.”

To get to this stage the Dollar team, captained by back-row Alex Crawford, have seen off Hutchesons’ Grammar, Merchiston Castle and then, in the last four, the High School of Glasgow.

Newton added: “To get to the final is a great achievement for this bunch of players.

“They really enjoy their rugby and gel well together as a team and, as this cup run has gone on, they have grown in confidence.

“Over the past few days the players have been very excited, but they are focused on doing well and just want to get out there now. It will be a great day for them and their families and friends.”