Strathallan and Watson’s share U16 Schools Cup

Strathallan School and George Watson’s College were crowned joint winners of the under-16 Scottish Rugby Schools Cup Final after a 5-5 draw at BT Murrayfield. The game took a while to settle and it was George Watson’s who opened the scoring through flanker Joseph Cantle in the first half, before Strathallan responded with a score from Finlay Laird after the interval.Strathallan coach, Andy Henderson, said: “There were little things that just stopped us in terms of generating continuity and putting the pressure on.”We had a couple of clean breaks and we couldn’t finish them but credit to George Watson’s they stuck in the game the whole way through.”George Watson’s coach, Michael Ker, said: “It’s disappointing for us as we were in the lead and didn’t manage to increase it, we obviously wanted to win tonight.George Watson’s enjoyed early possession with both sides aiming to settle their nerves in front of an atmospheric BT Murrayfield crowd.It was Strathallan’s centre pairing of Will Goddard and Tom Clark who impressed within the first 15 minutes before their forwards came close to the opening score, but referee Alex Obreja couldn’t see the grounding.George Watson’s responded through the forwards at the other end only for a knock on to hand possession back to Strathallan minutes later.A penalty for George Watson’s, the result of a knock on from Strathallan, gave the Edinburgh school the opportunity to counter through their dominant pack and it was Cantle who crashed over after 21 minutes.Strathallan captain and out half Calum McKeown threatened the George Watson’s defence but he was unsuccessful with a penalty attempt after an infringement at the line out, bringing Watson’s to a 5-0 half time lead. It was the Perthshire school who opened the scoring through Laird in the 43rd minute with the prop receiving from Hamish White after scrum half Aedan Brennan went quickly with the penalty.Goddard and White continued to threaten for Strathallan with breaks through the Watson’s defence only for the end pass to be spilled.George Watson’s presurrised in the Strathallan 22 in the closing stages before a knock on signalled the end of play and the shared trophy. Man of the match: Will Goddard (Strathallan) George Watson’s College: Thomas Urquhart; Blair Grant, Callum Hoffie, James Milligan, Jamie Cheung; Louis Millar, Jack Forrestor; James Wilson, Jamie Holligan, Stuart Wright, Ben Marshall, Angus Stevenson, Joseph Cantle, Murray Tink CAPTAIN, Stuart Gibson. Replacements: Callum Ke, Myles Campbell, Grant Jackson, Alexander Davidson, Fraser Mealyou, Daniel Ryan, Ewan Evans. Strathallan School: Greig Brown; Sandy Aitken, Tom Clark, Will Goddard, Euan Nicol; Calum McKeown CAPTAIN, Aedan Brennan; Murphy Walker, Harry Stewart, Douglas Stirrat, Myles Reid, Oscar Gleave, Lewis Webster, Cameron Henderson, Hamish White. Replacements: Finlay Laird, Euan Sutherland, Jack O’Brien, Lochlan Beveridge. Referee: Alex Obreja