Wednesday saw the Scottish Schools Cup and Shield finals take place at BT Murrayfield, with finals and both U18 and U16 lighting up the home of Scottish Rugby.
Over the course of the day almost 8,000 packed into BT Murrayfield, demonstrating the high regard with which Schools Rugby is held and the quality that was set to be on display.
They were treated to a special day, with four superb games of rugby at eight absolutely outstanding teams and groups of people.
U18 Cup: Merchiston Castle 20-7 Stewart’s Melville
Merchiston Castle claimed back the U18 Schools Cup, which they had won in 2018 and 2019 from 2020 holders Stewart’s Melville in a magnificent 20-7 victory at BT Murrayfield on Wednesday.
Merchiston led 10-0 at the break thanks to a tries from wingers Amaan Raza and Alex Callaway. Stewart’s Melville came back out for the second half full of determination not to let their crown slip and quickly got themselves onto the scoresheet through prop Aidan Symes, with James Lewis adding the conversion, to narrow the gap to 10-7.
That score only seemed to re-energise Merchston though, who quickly responded with their third try of the game through Lachlan Ferguson, before they really sealed the game this their fourth and Raza’s second of the game. It may have felt sealed, but after a yellow card late on Merchiston had to play out the game with 14 and Stewart’s Melville came oh so close to scoring a second.
In the end though, the margin was strong enough and Merchiston Castle claimed the Cup, a magnificent achievement from a superb group of players, some of whom have been playing together all the way back to the junior school.
U16 Cup: George Watson’s College 47-26 Dollar Academy
Where the U18s was tight, the U16s final was a thrilling try fest a George Watson’s College secured a quite outstanding 47-26 victory to claim the Cup.
They led 26-14 at the break, through tries from Fergus Ferguson, Lewis White, Harrison Wood, and Cameron Geddes, with Andrew Cameron landing three conversion, Dollar responded with tries from John Hulme and Angus Crockett, with Crockett converting both.
After the break White added a second for George Watson’s, sandwiched between two Michael Conor scores, all three of which were converted by Cameron, while John Hulme scored for Dollar and Crockett added his second, along with two successful conversions.
In the end though, despite Dollar’s efforts, George Watson’s were the side on top for the majority and deservedly sealed a 47-26 triumph and claimed the Trophy in style!
U18 Shield: Loretto 43-8 Queen Victoria
Loretto claimed the U18 Shield with an utterly dominant display in Wednesday’s final. They actually went 3-0 behind to Queen Victoria after an Aminio Bogidrau penalty, but from there they raced to a 24-3 half time lead through tries from Henry Thomas, Joss Arnold, and a brace from Finn Duraj, with two conversions from skipper Harry Bone.
Bone then added a try of his own in the second half before hooker Finn Duraj completed his hat-trick, and then added another with about fifteen minutes left to play. Queen Victoria did pull one back, but ultimately nothing could stop the juggernaught on the day that was Loretto.
U16 Shield: Queen Victoria 33-17 North Berwick High
Queen Victoria School sealed the U16 Shield with an impressive 33-17 victory over North Berwick High, making it a superb day for the school after the disappointment at missing out in the U18 game. It was an absolutely outstanding achievement to have sides in the final at both levels, and to come home with a Trophy will have put huge smiles on all faces.
They were actually behind at half time, 17-14, a brace of tries from skipper Sam Leweni, who converted both, not enough to nudge them ahead of North Berwick, who scored through Max Barbour, and twiece through Finlay Mitchell, whose second was converted by Joe Hunter for that half time lead of 17-14.
In was a stunning second half from Queen Victoria School that sealed it, having lost the lead they had build early on, Jeshon Thapa, on his debut, opening the second half scoring before Leweni nailed his hat-trick, and adding another conversion to the conversion for the Thapa try too. Thapa then scored a second to complete the scoring, giving Queen Victoria School a famous 33-17 victory.
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Scottish School Cup/Shield Results & Teams:
U18 Cup: Merchiston Castle 20-7 Stewart’s Melville
Merchiston Castle
15 Ben Riley, 14 Alex Callaway, 13 Luke McCarroll, 12 Lachlan Ferguson, 11 Joseph Farquhar, 10 Isaac Coates, 9 Matthew de Villiers (cc), 1 Angus McGregor, 2 James Sibbaid, 3 Robbie Deans (cc), 4 Oliver Palmer, 5 Jonathan Blair, 6 Torin McGregor, 7 Glen Crawford, 8 Tom Currie.
Replacements: 16 Max Gray, 17, Gordie Stephen, 18 Calum MacDonald, 19 Mackenzie Brown, 20 John Wight, 21 Amaan Raza, 22 Drew McCall Smith.
Stewart’s Melville
15 Monty Dunlap, 14 Rob Henderson, 13 Louis Lew Suer, 12 Benjamin Roger, 11 Finn MacFarlane, 10 James Lewis, 9 Jake Burns, 1 Aidan Symes, 2 Elliot Young (c), 3 Jamie Limb, 4 Robin Pratt, 5 Alfie Maitland, 6 Charlie Burns, 7 Freddy Douglas, 8 Gregor Thomson.
Replacements: 16 Ed Waugh, 17 Charkes Harte, 18 Josh Spencer, 19 Kieran McMillan, 21 Cameron Ross, 22 James Gordon, 23 Isaac Johnston.
U16 Cup: George Watson’s College 47-26 Dollar Academy
George Watsons College
15 Fergus Ferguson, 14 Matthew Cingel, 13 Jamie Thomson, 12 Josh Loukes, 11 Lewis White, 10 Andrew Cameron, 9 Euan Walker, 1 David Brown, 2 Michael Connor (c), 3 Cole O’Reilly, 4 Mark Fyffe, 5 Angus Moran, 6 Cameron Geddes, 7 Harrison Wood, 8 Finlay MacIntosh.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Stewart, 17 Cammy Balfour, 19 Nick Reid, 20 Michael McAndrew, 21 Patrick Kneen, 22 Duncan Maguire, 23 Daniel McKinnon.
Dollar Academy
15 Frederick Disborough, 14 George McKie, 13 Jamie Morton, 12 Rio Arbuckle, 11 Tyler Hunter, 10 Angus Crockett, 9 Fraser Keatch, 1 Georgios Tachtatzis, 2 Kieran Pritchard, 3 Rory Purvis, 4 Harrison Staples, 5 Ben Smallwood, 6 John Hulme, 7 Archie Dayman, 8 Archie Jaffery-Smith (c).
Replacements: 16 Angus Wright, 17 Angus Lumsden, 18 Matthew Ross, 19 Fraser Cadell, 20 Stuart MacKay, 21 Alexander Pettigrew.
U18 Shield: Loretto 43-8 Queen Victoria
Loretto
15 James Hastie 14 Charles Arthur 13 Hugh Kerr 12 Henry Thomas 11 Joshua Ferguson 10 Harry Edwardson 9 Harry Bone (c) 1 Ross Brown 2 Finn Duraj 3 Sorley Seenan 4 Archie Lang 5 Joss Arnold 6 Matthew Ballantyne 7 James Lindsay 8 Josh Davis-Edwards.
Replacements: 16 Gabriel Pearce 17 Tom Shanks 18 Rory Day.
Queen Victoria School
15 Michael Draunidalo 14 Jaheem Thomas 13 Amena Caqusau 12 Theopil Natiri 11 Rays Gurung 10 Aminio Bogidrau (c) 9 Benjamin Main 1 Subhaashish Gurung 2 Roman Gurung 3 Mitchell Pratt 4 Alex Skinner 5 Joseph Ruickbie 6 Euan Lee 7 Shameer Gurung 8 Aidan Horsburgh.
Replacements: 16 Robert Cordiner 17 Elliot Jones 18 Magnus Gothard-Olver 19 Cameron Brown 20 Lewis Andrews 21 Joe Long.
U16 Shield: Queen Victoria 33-17 North Berwick High
Queen Victoria School
15 Ayden Paterson 14 Joeli Halofaki 13 Jason Osie-Bonsu 12 Sitiveni Qalo 11 Luke Lewis-Bannis 10 Sam Leweni (c) 9 Charlie Scott 1 Daniel Evans 2 Jay Pearson 3 Suyen Limbu 4 Josh Knocj 5 William Kurisaru 6 Josh Ferrier 7 Daniel Rae 8 Hendry Vono.
Replacements: 16 James Douglas 17 Lewis Loudon 18 Darren Young 19 Savenaca Golea 20 Finlay Jones 21 Jeshon Thapa 22 Ethan Sim.
North Berwick High
15 Finlay Mitchell 14 Harry Dunkinson 13 Cameron McIntyre 12 Joe Hunter 11 Tom MacKay 10 Finn Ryan 1 JJ Wallace 2 Tadhg Finlayson-McCarthy 3 Angus Waddell 4 Perry Angel 5 Max Barbour 6 Andrew MacAskill (c) 7 Callum Perry 8 Woody Martin.
Replacements: 16 Moray Seaton 17 Callum Masson 18 Hamish Green 19 Jamie Perry 20 Angus Gray 21 Luke Felton 22 Alex Smith.
