Hutchesons' Cup win proves timely boost for west teams

CLOSE to 6,000 spectators headed to Murrayfield on Thursday night to watch the Brewin Dolphin Scottish Schools Cup finals at under-15 and under-18 levels but few could have expected such entertainment from matches that both went to the wire.

The 10-8 win by Hutchesons' Grammar School over Stewart's-Melville in the under-15 final was a highly-charged appetiser for the under-18 match. But, in its own right, it was a superb match which provided Hutchesons' with a piece of history in becoming the first Glasgow school to win the title, in no small part due to an opportunist and skilfully-taken try by scrum-half Robbie Blackwood.

If this signals a revival in Glasgow schools rugby, then this is what age grade rugby desperately needs. The Schools Cup has been dominated by east coast sides from Aberdeen to Edinburgh. Perhaps a healthier balance has been restored.

Losing the under-15 final was heartbreaking enough for Stewart's-Melville College but to then miss out so cruelly in the under-18 Cup was a double tragedy.

The under-18 final was a lesson in playing until the final whistle sounds. Edinburgh Academy were trailing Stewart's-Melville by one point with only half a minute of the match remaining. Stand-off and skipper Fraser Gillies was wide with two drop goal attempts but, when he tried a third with the clock hovering on zero, Stewart's-Melville were caught offside.

It was a tough decision but, according to watching experts, the right one. Man-of-the-match Gillies kicked the winning points for a 13-11 victory, completing a skilful display by the young stand-off, who had earlier dropped a goal and converted a try by lock Henry Binnian.

It was a sensational finish to a very even game. The pity was that one side had to lose. For Stewart's-Melville College, runners-up last year, it was the undeserved outcome at the end of a match they had came so close to winning, not least because of a great try by Scott Cook carved out by skipper Michael Crawley.

"There was nothing in it," admitted Academy coach, Mark Appleson. "But I thought we just about deserved the win. The boys worked for one another and showed the same commitment as they did in the semi-final. Perhaps what turned it was our use of the bench."