Questions to be asked over Youth Cup set-up

It should have been the experience of a lifetime for the young players taking part in the National Youth under-16 Cup at BT Murrayfield on Sunday but you can only guess at the agony suffered by Cartha QP in losing 80-12 to Boroughmuir.

In the wake of the under-16 final, the question being asked by a number of neutrals was, how did such a mismatch occur? One explanation is that Cartha QP had come into the final missing key players. But that does not answer fully the imbalance.

The signs were that Cartha would be competitive. The Glasgow club won the second tier Galant Conference at under-16 level and defeated Ayr to reach the final. Their credentials had been established. Or so it seemed.

The difficulty is that there is a sizeable gulf between the second tier conference and the top layer. While Cartha deserve huge credit for reaching the final and for their work in restoring rugby to Shawlands Academy, they have not been exposed to higher level rugby on a consistent basis.

The draw at each stage of the Youth Cup was unseeded. On the one hand, an unseeded draw produces fairness but on the other it can result in mismatches. Perhaps a change to a pool style competition would achieve a more competitive final while, in the process, generating more postchristmas matches.

The latter point is an issue the coach of under-18 Cup champions Stirling County, Matt Mcgrandles, has been pondering. He believes that youth sides lose momentum in the post-christmas period through a combination of bad weather, mid-term holidays at differing times and exams.

“We were a bit rusty,” said Mcgrandles. “The lack of games from January didn’t help.

“If we had more games leading up to the final, ourselves and Ayr would have put on a better display.”

So, should the Youth Cup be at a different time of year? “When it should take place is part of another discussion,” said Mcgrandles.