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 4^th placed teams will play the Bowl Quarter Final and the 1^st and 2^nd placed teams will play in the Trophy Quarter Final.

Each match will last 30 minutes.

Fixture list

Watch the matches live here