Schools and Youth Competitions

​Rugby has the potential to make a significant impact on young people’s lives and to learn valuable life-skills. We are a sport committed to the development of leadership, enjoyment, achievement, engagement and respect.

Expanding the school and youth game is integral to increasing player numbers at all levels. The programmes we run focus on encouraging more children, from across Scotland, to take up rugby and continue to play through their teenage years and beyond.

Scottish Rugby supports schools and clubs in their partnerships with Club Development Officers and Community Coaches. We have expanded our CashBack Schools of Rugby, where pupils in S1-S3 take part in up to five sessions per week with a focus on developing core skills, physical competence and establishing new rugby teams.

Our schools and youth playing structures are ‘Player centred, development driven and competition supported’, aiming to provide meaningful playing opportunities across all elements of the youth and schools game. The playing programme include Conferences competitions (clubs and schools play to a ‘whole v whole’ format across their whole youth programme; Regional Leagues, Cups and development fixtures/festivals; and National Cup competitions.

To see the latest results and upcoming fixtures in the club game, visit our Fixtures & Results section.

School Participation Agreement

The inspiresport Schools Conferences are an integral part of Scottish Rugby’s annual competitions programme as we work collaboratively with clubs and schools to create a bright future for the game. To be able to participate in rugby in Scotland and to be eligible for funding connected to the inspiresport Conference competitions for the 2026/27 season, your School must meet the standards set out within the School Participation Agreement and accept and comply with the terms and conditions attached to those standards.

As always, minimum standards are embedded to ensure we continue to support a safe and well governed game and evolve the experience for our players.

Travel Support remains a key investment area through the School Participation Agreement and therefore we are pleased to confirm that for the season 2026/27 the travel framework will now provide funding to all eligible journeys over 50 miles, expanding the mile range from 100 miles last season. This means more fixtures and shorter journeys will be supported through the funding framework. For more information around this, please click on the Travel Scheme tile at the bottom of the page.

Please consider the Schools Participation Agreement 2026/27 and discuss with the relevant people in your school before confirming you accept its terms by returning a signed acceptance form below to the Rugby Development Department at [email protected] no later than 31 October 2026.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact your regional team who will be happy to help.

School Participation Agreement Season 2026/27