George Watson’s claim fourth U18 Schools Cup

George Watson’s College became under-18 Scottish Rugby Schools Cup champions for the fourth time in a row, with a last minute penalty claiming a 30-27 victory over Dollar Academy at BT Murrayfield last night. Both teams contributed to a thrilling final, which saw Watson’s dominate in the first half and Dollar take control for the majority of the second.Watson’s scored through captain Kenny Drummond in the final stages as Fraser Peters struck with the boot to seal victory for the Edinburgh school in the final play of the game. George Watson’s College director of rugby, Ally Donaldson, said: “It would have been easy for heads to drop but we showed amazing character to come back having already been up.It will be a long time before a school matches our record of four consecutive titles, so that’s something the groups of players from the last four years should be immensely proud of.Dollar Academy coach, Don Caskie, said: “It was a case of two very evenly matched sides who were going hammer and tong and someone had to come out on top.There are 11 of the squad who are still only fifth formers so we will learn from today and hopefully come back stronger next year.Watson’s opened the scoring through full back Callum Martin who ran back a kick from Dollar to go over after five minutes.Dollar responded with a successful penalty from Ben McIlwraith before Martin went on the attack for his and Watson’s second try after brushing off several tackles in the 20th minute.Watson’s continued to pressurise through Martin, who ran from deep to provide the position for prop Michael Calder to go over with scrum half Peters adding the extras in the 23rd minute.Out half Grant Hughes rallied the Dollar back line before sprinting over from close range minutes later, as McIlwraith converted to put Dollar back in the game. Hughes broke the line to find full back Andrew Graham who came up short before Hughes crossed the line for his second, with McIlwraith converting to level the scores at 17-17 come half-time.After the interval, Dollar took the lead through Callum Cruickshank who received from captain and scrum half Harry Warr with McIlwraith once again adding the extras after 48 minutes.Penalty goals from both sides kept Watson’s in the game before Drummond barged his way over from close range and Peters converted to level the scores at 27-27 with three minutes left on the clock.From the restart, Watson’s kept the ball in hand and found their way into the Dollar 22 before a penalty awarded in front of the posts resulted in Peters kicking the title points on the stroke of full-time.  Dollar Academy: Andrew Graham; Charlie Dineen, Gordon McGregor, Ben McIlwraith, Fergus Fitzpatrick; Grant Hughes, Harry Warr CAPTAIN; Calum Souter, Nick Reeves, Euan McLaren, Cameron Blackmore, Rory Cooke, Angus Cooper, Callum Cruickshank, Lachlan Peterson. Replacements: Joel Skipper, Jonathan Davies, Wannenburg Janse van Rensburg, Cameron Moore, Stewart Soutar, Micah Shephard, Jamie Price. George Watson’s College: Callum Martin; Lucien Ruthenberg, Lewis Berg, Oliver Brown, Cameron Macdonald; Murray Scott, Fraser Peters; Michael Calder, Calum Harris, Calum Eastwood, Kenny Drummond CAPTAIN, Robbie Berg, Chris Carson, Gregor Nelson, Will Wright. Replacements: Campbell Wilson, Lewis Collison, Matthew Halliday, Jamie Stewart, Harry Carruthers, Fraser Cousin, Elliot Stanton. Man of the match: Harry Warr (Dollar Academy) Referee: Finlay Brown