Merchiston Castle rugby festival hailed 'big success' for Scottish schools and clubs

The under-18 National Rugby Festival held at Merchiston Castle at the weekend was a “big success”, according to the Edinburgh school’s director of rugby Roddy Deans.

Merchiston and George Watson’s College had teams involved as did Peebles, Ayr and Boroughmuir rugby clubs along with 11 English schools.

Matches of a shorter length than usual were played over the two days and on Saturday, Merchiston topped Group One after three wins from three.

Peebles finished third in that pool while, in a very strong Group Two, Ayr finished fourth.

Eventual overall winners Ipswich School topped Group Three while Boroughmuir put in some excellent displays to go through the day unbeaten and top Group Four.

Their three triumphs included a 19-0 win over Watson’s with the latter ending up fourth in the section.

On Sunday there were some more positive displays from the Scottish sides, most notably Peebles beating Ayr 26-0 in the Bowl quarter-final, Boroughmuir reaching the Trophy semi-finals and Merchiston making the Trophy final.

In that final Merchiston, who had seen off Barnard Castle School and Mount St Mary’s College in the last eight and last four, scored one try, but were beaten by Ipswich School 19-5.

Isaac Coates, player of the under-18 National Rugby Festival, with Edinburgh Rugby's Matt Currie and Dan Gamble.

Seaford College won the Plate, Bedford School Boys won the Bowl and Wycliffe College took the Shield southwards.

Merchiston stand-off Isaac Coates was named player of the tournament and was presented his award by Edinburgh Rugby players - and school former pupils - Matt Currie and Dan Gamble.

“The weekend was a big success,” Deans said.

“This was the third year that we had run the event and the quality of play across the board was as high as we have seen it. Credit to the English teams for coming up while all of the Scottish school and club teams really took a lot from it.

“It was great seeing young Scottish talent taking on English opponents and I think the weekend will have given a lot of the teams momentum going into their next few fixtures.”

Strathallan School were down south at the St Joseph's College National Schools Rugby Festival in Suffolk at the weekend.

They won one and lost two in group play on Saturday and then, after some tight matches earlier in the day, ended Sunday by defeating Marlborough College 14-12 in the Shield third/fourth place clash.

It was a fantastic opportunity for our players to be a part of such a big event and for them to get out of their comfort zones,” their director of rugby Nick Hill said.

“Each opposition provided different challenges for us as they played in different ways. We scored some great tries, the best one being in our last match with Marlborough College when we needed a converted score to win with the clock in the red. Our centre/fullback Joe Townshend scored the great last gasp try and then converted it for the win.”

The Inspiresport boy’s National One Schools Conference is currently on a break with a number of the teams on half-term, but last Tuesday Stewart’s Melville College managed to secure a bonus point win over Fettes College.

Centre Thomas Russell led the way with two tries while back-row Freddy Douglas, stand-off Jamie Cain, back-row Jake McGlynn and hooker Dan Smith also crossed. Cain kicked the conversions in a 38-10 triumph.