Let’S Hear It For The Girls!

The Brewin Dolphin Scottish Girls’ Cup under-15 and 18 semi-finals get underway on Sunday with club and school sides going head to head in the penultimate round of the inaugural competition. The big names of girls’ rugby have been kept apart in the under-18s, with Gala girls heading north to take on Gordon Schools, while Murrayfield Wanderers travel to Perthshire to face the only club or school with a team left in both competitions, the Community School of Auchterarder. The Brewin Dolphin Scottish Girls’ Cup under-15 and 18 semi-finals get underway on Sunday with club and school sides going head to head in the penultimate round of the inaugural competition. The big names of girls’ rugby have been kept apart in the under-18s, with Gala girls heading north to take on Gordon Schools, while Murrayfield Wanderers travel to Perthshire to face the only club or school with a team left in both competitions, the Community School of Auchterarder. Relatively new kids on the girls’ rugby block, Auchterarder have already begun to capture attention with a string of strong performances. Their under-15s travel to face the Ayrshire Cluster, while Langholm will host the Atholl / Central Cluster. Last season investment manager and long-term sponsor of the boys’ Scottish Schools’ Cup, Brewin Dolphin, extended its sponsorship to include the girls’ competition as part of a new three-year deal that sees the partnership with Scottish Rugby extended until 2012. Scotland Women’s captain, Lynne Reid, said: Scottish Rugby is now an integrated governing body and the inclusion of competitions for schoolgirls within the Brewin Dolphin Scottish Schools Cup sponsorship is a great example of rugby being developed and supported in an integrated fashion and confirmation that girls like rugby too! This is fantastic news for young female rugby players across the country and the future of the women’s game as a whole. Colin Thomson, head of community rugby at Scottish Rugby said: We are pleased with the commitment shown by long-term sponsor Brewin Dolphin to youth and schools rugby, which I believe stands as testimony to the progress that has been made by all partners involved in the growth and development of rugby across Scotland. I believe the extension of their sponsorship, to support the introduction of girls’ competitions, demonstrates the progress that has also been made in the growth and development of girls’ rugby over the last couple of seasons. Marc Wilkinson, director at Brewin Dolphin, said: This is our first year sponsoring the Girls’ Cup competition and we are delighted with the response from the both schools and clubs. We are nearing the semi final stages of the Cup and can now see the quality of rugby being played by girls across Scotland. We have supported boys’ schools rugby for many years and for us to be able to extend our support to the girls’ competition reinforces our commitment to developing grassroots rugby in Scotland. We wish all of the teams the best of luck in the semi finals.BREWIN DOLPHIN U18 SCOTTISH GIRLS’ CUP SEMI FINALSSunday 28 March – Community School of Auchterarder v Murrayfield Wanderers, kick-off tbcTuesday 20 April- Gordon Schools, Huntly v Gala, at 6.30pm, Mayfield – High School of DundeeBREWIN DOLPHIN U15 SCOTTISH GIRLS’ CUP SEMI FINALSSunday 28 March – Langholm v Atholl / Central Cluster, kick-off 1.00pmSunday 18 April – Ayrshire Cluster v Community School of Auchterarder, kick-off 1.30pmBREWIN DOLPHIN UNDER-18 GIRLS’ SHIELD FINAL (Saturday 25 April) Plockton High School v Ayrshire Cluster BREWIN DOLPHIN UNDER-15 GIRLS’ SHIELD FINAL (Saturday 25 April) Murrayfield Wanderers v Glasgow Cluster