Brendan Gallagher continues his series looking at rugby's great schools
FEW schools in Scotland have a prouder rugby record than Merchiston Castle, with the Edinburgh school deeply involved at the very beginning of Scottish rugby and an ever-present throughout the decades.
It has produced 67 Scotland internationals thus far with a broad range of personalities from wing Roger Baird, imperious centre of yesteryear Iain Laughland, Norman Mair –a double cricket and rugby international and an eminent sports writer – Craig Joiner, Duncan Hodge, Peter Walton, Ian Fullerton, Scott Steele, John Jeffrey, Fraser Brown and many others. Given their early pre-eminence it is not surprising that recent graduates of Merchiston played a significant role in rugby's first-ever international, between Scotland and England at Raeburn Place in 1871.
Benjamin Hall Blyth, a former captain of the Merchiston school side, was one of the skippers of Scotland's five senior sides to write to the Times challenging the clubs of England to a game.
The challenge was accepted and the game duly took place on March 27, 1871 and although Hall Blyth didn't earn selection, three recently graduated Merchistonians had a considerable influence on the game.
Forward George Ritchie very nearly made history by becoming the first try scorer in Test rugby and indeed died in Kelso in 1896 insisting that is precisely what had happened. All reports suggest he unquestionably crossed the line amid a pile of bodies and a try was about to be awarded when a solitary English voice – reported by some as Fred Stoke the England captain – queried the decision claiming he also had his hands on the ball.
The referee – the umpire back then – disallowed the try but from the resulting scrum Angus Buchanan forced his way over to claim the honour of being Test rugby's first try scorer.
There was a first, however, for Merchiston with William Cross, described as the game's outstanding performer in most reports, converting the try to in fact become the first points scorer in Test history as in the early days a try didn't garner any points, just a kick at goal.
Cross crowned a good day personally by scoring a second Scotland try in the closing stages although this time he couldn't convert it, while Merchiston's third represen- tative in this historic match was Andrew Colville, who had been an exceptional schoolboy performer and matured into one of the best forwards of his day.
Historically the most remarkable Merchiston rugby-playing family were the four Neilson brothers who all played for Scotland in the 1890s.
William, a centre, captained the school rugby and cricket teams and indeed was the school captain overall and made his Scotland debut alongside brother George against Wales in 1891 when Scotland pulled off a 15-0 win –a huge scoreline for the time – against a well rated side.
Both were Scotland stalwarts for the next five or six years and both, coincidentally, finished up with 14 caps.
Of their younger brothers Gordon, above, won one cap in 1884 before embarking on a distinguished military career which saw him serve in the Boer War and World War 1, being mentioned in despatches on four occasions in the latter. The baby of the family was Robert Neilson, a utility back, who won six Scotland caps between 1899 and 1900.
In more modern times Merchiston made a slow start in the Scottish Cup but with future Scotland coach Frank Hadden having revamped the school's rugby programme they enjoyed a purple patch in the 1990s which saw them win four titles in five years.
The start of that run, appropriately enough came with a 27-8 victory over Edinburgh Academy and, after losing to Stewart's Melville the following year, they reeled off three Cup wins on the bounce. In 2000 they defeated Dollar Academy 22-8, the following year they accounted for Fettes 10-5 and in 2002 they won an entertaining encounter with George Watson's 44-21.
It's been harder going in the meantime but there was another title in 2008 when a side containing future Scotland hooker David Cherry beat George Watson's 15-3 but the latter got their revenge in both 2013 and 2015 by denying Merchiston the title.
Merchiston bounced back in 2018 through arguably their most impressive Scottish Cup triumph thus far when their exceptional side of that year battered St Aloysius 40-7 in the final at Murrayfield. With young Scotland stars of the future James Dobie and Rufus McLean to the fore, Merchiston were irresistible after the break as they rushed to their sixth title.
With their U16 squad winning the 2020 title – beating Dollar Academy 41-5 before Covid descended – there are high hopes of another senior title soon.
Possibly the biggest development in Merchiston rugby in recent years has been the introduction of the Merchiston half-term festival in 2019. Merchiston had been consistently strong performers at the wellestablished St Joseph's Festival for some years and indeed their No.8 – England U20 captain Zach Mercer – had been voted player of the tournament in 2014.
They could not, however, guarantee an invite every year and travelling south to Suffolk every half-term was quite a commitment anyway so they wondered if there would be any mileage in organising an invitation event north of the border, but incorporating many English opponents they have encountered over the decades and indeed centuries.
They put their toes in the water in 2019 and were much encouraged but then Covid struck in 2020. They resumed this October with an excellent, compact competition incorporating three top Scottish schools, three Scottish club U19 sides and five raiders from south of the border. Merchiston also put in a Second XV. Seaford won the final against Bedford School 14-7 with Boroughmuir defeating Merchiston in the 3rd play-off. Expect this tournament to take off in the coming years and to become a significant date in the calendar.
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