Merchiston to 'beat the freeze' with first indoor rugby game in Scottish Schools' history

The first indoor rugby game in Scottish Schools’ history will take place on Saturday, 13 January at the Oriam Stadium, Heriot-Watt University. Merchiston, Edinburgh, and Dollar Academy are scheduled to play, what will no doubt prove to be an exciting line up of matches. 

Historically, Merchiston’s first game back after the holiday period has been cancelled due to frozen pitches, therefore, Merchiston’s Director of Rugby, Roddy Deans, has thought up this new initiative in order to ‘beat the freeze.’ This will allow the young players to get back on the field and avoid any postponing of fixtures. 

Mr Deans said: “We are looking to beat the freeze and get the boys out playing. Every year our first weekend back after the Christmas holidays is cancelled due to heavy rain, snow or frost, so we thought about doing something different. The boys will love playing rugby indoors and being able to use the Scottish Rugby teams’ winter training facility. We will have boys playing from P6 through to U18, from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.”

The move to indoor playing could be an option for other Scottish Schools to avoid any disruptions to the season and many other schools may follow suit.

Match times are as follows: 

8:00 – 8:30: Arrival & Warm Up

8:30 – 9:20: F1/F2/D2 (P6/7) (20 mins each way - 3 pitches)

9:25 – 10:20: D1/D3 (S1) (25 mins each way – 2 pitches) 

10:25 – 11:35: C1 (S2) (30 mins each way – 1 pitch)

11:40 – 12:45: B1 (S3) (30 mins each way)

12:50 – 14:10: U16 A (U16) (35 mins each way) 

14:30 – 16:00: 1st XV (U18) (35 mins each way)