Top-tier sides warm up for season south of the Border

The top tier of Scottish Rugby’s Schools Conferences kicks off this Saturday with three attractive fixtures – Merchiston v Stewart’s-melville College, Edinburgh Academy v Dollar Academy and George Watson’s College v Strathallan.

The competition is whole school but, inevitably with Scottish Rugby’s Cup already underway, the focus will be on the results of the under-18 and under-16 matches.

George Watson’s gave themselves a tough workout last Saturday with a visit to Tyneside to take on Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. The match went down to the wire with RGS winning 19-17.

“It was really good to get a tough match before playing Strathallan next week.” said Watson’s director of rugby, Ally Donaldson, whose side scored three tries from Joe Cantle, Murray Tink and Blair Grant, one of them converted by Paul Cunningham.

Strathallan warmed up in the English Midlands with a match against Oakham School. Strathallan, giving all 30 members of their first squad a run, won by 47-12.

Also testing themselves against English opposition were last season’s Cup winners, Stewart’s-melville College, who had a mixand-match game against Sedbergh, defeating the Cumbria school’s seconds but losing in a hard game against Sedbergh’s first side.

In the top youth competition, the Shogun Conference, Stirling Country powered to a 51-0 win over Currie Chieftains, Boroughmuir defeated Ayr 31-24 and Biggar ran out 31-14 winners over Hamilton. Highland v West of Scotland did not go ahead as West were unable to raise a team.

In the Schools under-18 Cup, Balfron High School, Carrick Academy, St Columba’s and Queen Anne High School all had emphatic first-round wins. And there were walk-over results in favour of Gordonstoun, Marr College, Nicolson Institute, Morrison’s Academy and Jordanhill School.