Merchiston Castle will be holding the inaugural U18 Tri Nations Rugby Festival this weekend, with eight schools in attendance.
There will be teams from Scotland, England, and Northern Ireland, with Bedford School and Seaford College making the trip from England, while Ballymena Academy cross the Irish sea.
Scottish representation comes from Merchiston Castle’s fellow Scottish schools Dollar Academy and George Watson’s College, as well as club U18 sides Stirling County and Boroughmuir.
It is a big departure from their usual routine this weekend for Merchiston Castle, who would usually be at the St Joseph’s Festival, as were they and Seaford last year, but hopes must be high that this could one day build into the same level of tournament.
With every game being live streamed (details below) and the tournament stretching across both Saturday and Sunday, they are certainly well on the way to creating something similarly special.
Speaking to Merchiston Castle’s Director of Sport, Rory McCann, the sense of excitement was palpable:
“This year we are delighted to be hosting our inaugural U18 Tri Nations Rugby Festival at Merchiston. For many years, The Merchiston Sevens has been running as Scotland’s largest Schoolboy rugby tournament. We have been attending the St Joseph’s National Festival for the last few years, however Roddy Deans (Director of Rugby) and I felt that there was an opportunity to develop a leading rugby festival for Schools and Clubs, north of the border. We have invited schools and clubs from England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.”
“The tournament will give all the schools an opportunity to experience the different styles of rugby from across the UK. There will be a number of schools staying onsite throughout the weekend and they will be able to enjoy everything Edinburgh and Merchiston has to offer, including a Festival Dinner on the Saturday evening. With the World Cup in full swing, we hope this weekend will provide an opportunity for boys and staff to enjoy some competitive rugby but maybe more importantly, a memorable experience for staff, boys and parents alike.”
Merchiston will be among the favourites too, having lifted the Scottish Schools Cup in 2019, just the latest in a line of success that has also seen the likes of Magnus Bradbury, Fraser Brown, Stafford McDowell, and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne earn Scotland caps, with Bradbury and Brown in the Scotland Rugby World Cup squad, and Zach Mercer earn England caps.
Last year’s skipper, Jamie Dobie, is already making waves having appeared for Glasgow Warriors this year, having gone straight from school to senior professional contract.
Festival Format
With Merchiston having been represented at every international level last year, there are plenty of stars this year too, and they will be in a group with Bedford, George Watson’s College, and Stirling County.
The eight sides are split into two groups, those four in Group 1, while Ballymena Academy, Boroughmuir, Dollar Academy, and Seaford College make up Group 2.
The top two from each group then meet on Sunday in the Cup semi finals, while the bottom two meet in the Plate semi finals, the winners of those two games playing off for the Cup and Plate respective, the losers for 3rd and 7th, meaning that over the two days each sides should play five games.
Groups
| Group 1 | Group 2 |
| Bedford | Ballymena Academy |
| George Watson’s College | Boroughmuir |
| Merchiston Castle | Dollar Academy |
| Stirling County | Seaford College |
Live Stream
The live stream will be broadcast by Pixellot and will be available via the Pixellot App.
In order to watch it, both live or on demand, you need to download the Pixellot App (Pixellot in the App Stoer, Pixellot Viewer in Google Play), you will then need to register an account.
From there, to watch the U18 Tri Nations Festival, head to the My Club section at the foot of the screen and select the clubs tab, typing Merchiston Rugby Festival into the search bar. When that appears, click Ask to Join and live streams will be available as soon as each game starts.
You will also be able to watch any games on demand after the game’s conclusion and all games can be watching either in HD or in Pano, where you can zoom in on any area.
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