Open Competition set for expansion in 2026/27 season

Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group

The Open Competition, Scottish Rugby’s age-grade competition creating opportunities for school and club programmes to compete against each other at a higher level, will expand for the next edition to include four new clubs and schools: Edinburgh Academy, Marr Rugby, GHA RFC, and Glenalmond College.

This expansion reflects the continued growth of the Open Competition and the strong alignment of these programmes with the expectations around player development, performance, and programme delivery.

Aligning with the Rugby Development strategic aim of strengthening club and school links, the four programmes were successful following an application process involving a panel assessment conducted alongside Scottish Rugby’s Rugby Development and High Performance department representatives.

The Open Competition forms part of the youth pathway and is a fundamental component of the youth and school competition structure, allowing the best programmes to compete against each other in more meaningful fixtures.

Paul Livesey, Director of Sport at The Edinburgh Academy, said: “We are delighted to have been accepted into the Open Competition. This achievement reflects the hard work and dedication of our coaches, the performances our teams have delivered, and the exciting future we are building across the club.”

Frazier Climo, Head Coach of Ayr RFC U18s, added: “As a club we are hugely excited and motivated to continue to improve and grow in the Open Competition. We have taken massive learnings as a coaching group on areas we need to get better at but more importantly the players have been exposed to a high level of rugby and are determined to compete against the best youth players in Scotland. The hard work has already started and we can’t wait to get going.”

Scottish Rugby remains committed to working with a broad range of clubs and schools across the country to identify player talent outwith the Open Competition. This is reflected in the players from 96 clubs and 53 schools who have represented their regions in the Inter-District Championships so far this season.  

Scottish Rugby’s Director of Rugby Development, Gav Scott, said: “Following an extensive process which involved a panel assessment with shortlisted clubs, we are confident the four programmes we have selected will add to the strength and quality of the competition which saw great success in its inaugural season.

“The inclusion of two programmes from the west of Scotland and another from the Caledonia Midlands region has also broadened the geographical spread of the competition. Expansion will allow for broader competition between clubs and schools as well as create equal playing opportunities.

“We are grateful to the inaugural eight programmes who committed their time and resources to the competition and appreciate the willingness of the 12 clubs and schools who now make up the Open Competition for working with us in the spirit of progress and expanding competition levels.”

The Open Competition season will run from August to December, allowing youth and school cup competitions to run in parallel. The 12 teams will be drawn into two pools with the structure and format of fixtures to be decided in due course.

The development of the full boys Youth and School competition structure, including conference/league groupings and fixture weekends, is continuing alongside the review and expansion of the Open Competition. Initial communications will be shared in the coming days to engage all schools and clubs, followed by further touchpoints and consultation within the next month to finalise the full competition structure.

This will start with the school conferences and club national conferences as priority. Communication to confirm the final structures for the school competitions will be made in early May, and the club competitions will follow in late May.

Scottish Rugby is working to ensure feedback from clubs and schools on player movement are addressed. This initially was assessed through criteria in each Open Competition application and at interview stage. In addition, a working group has been set up to review player movement with the purpose of introducing new player movement protocols ahead of next season to better manage the movement of players across the game.

List of Open Competition programmes:

Dollar Academy

George Watson’s College

Merchiston Castle School

Strathallan School

Stewart’s Melville College

Ayr RFC

Boroughmuir Rugby

Stirling County RFC

The Edinburgh Academy

Glenalmond College

Marr Rugby, and