Scotland’s best young players to take to the pitch at Merchiston
13 Oct 2022On the weekend of the 15 and 16 October, some of the best under-18s players in Scotland will take to the field at Merchiston Castle School for a two-day tournament.
11 teams from England will visit the Edinburgh based school to face five Scottish teams: Merchiston, Peebles RFC, Ayr RFC, George Watsons College, Boroughmuir RFC.
Scotland Under-18s were recently in action in August when they took on Wales and Italy in a three-day festival with a number of the players who featured in those games expected to turn out at Merchiston.
Head of Pathways and Elite Coach Development John Fletcher expressed the importance of giving Scotland’s young players more opportunities to play. He said: “The upcoming festival at Merchiston Castle School will be invaluable for all the players who take part as it provides a different competitive environment which is crucial at this stage of their development.
“Scotland Under-18s will next come together for a training camp in December before the 6 Nations next year so festivals like this are important and allow all players on the day to face opposition that they don’t normally play against.
“Tournaments like this will help expose our players to different challenges and take them out of their comfort zone.”
Roddy Deans, Merchiston Castle School Director of Rugby said: “We are delighted to have built our tournament up to sixteen teams.
“The main goals of the weekend is to help grow the game in Scotland, bring the clubs and schools closer together and more importantly give our players in Scotland the opportunity to compete against tougher opposition who will play a variety of different styles.”
The festival kicks off on Saturday, 15 October where 24 matches will be played across four pitches in the group stage games, with all the action on pitch one being live streamed from 10am-3.30pm across the two days.
Groups
Group 1: Merchiston Castle School, Norwich School, Peebles RFC, Wycliffe College
Group 2: Ayr RFC, Barnard Castle School, Bedford School, Mount St. Mary’s College,
Group 3: Canford School, Ipswich School, St. Benedict’s School, Uppingham School
Group 4: Boroughmuir RFC, Collegiate, George Watson’s College, Seaford College
On Sunday, 16 October, the 4rd and 4th placed teams will play the Bowl Quarter Final and the 1st and 2nd placed teams will play in the Trophy Quarter Final.
Each match will last 30 minutes.
