 It is not often appreciated that Merchiston plays at least 20 sports, both within and without the School, and over the course of this term there have been fixtures in badminton, basketball, clay pigeon shooting, cross-country, curling, fives, football, hockey, rugby, shooting and swimming.
In rugby the 1st XV ended its season only being defeated in two fixtures and the Cup XV won the Scottish Schools Cup at Murrayfield against George Watson’s on a wet and windy January evening. The final was one to remember when two late tries ended six years of frustration for the whole School community. It is not compulsory for pupils to attend these matches but many choose to do so. The support from the Merchiston community, old and young, was fantastic – some travelled from as far away as America and Brighton, and this was hugely appreciated by all. Both the semi-final and the final saw this year’s Cup team perform to the highest standard and we were clearly delighted to carry off the trophy. I congratulated the leading coaches, Mark Appleson and Javier Palacios, all the coaches, and indeed those members of the School who enjoy this sport on the way in which it is played at Merchiston and, on the whole, on the way in which it is supported. It has been amusing to see the boys come up with the songs they wish to sing; some of you will remember the Merchiston version of The Twelve Days of Christmas from the quarter-final of the Cup before the end of last term! The rest of the School have ended their seasons on a high and some have been involved in some excellent sevens competitions. The U13 team reached the semi-final and final of the Terrington Hall and Mowden Hall Sevens competitions respectively and was due to compete at Rosslyn Park, but the poor weather in London led to cancellation of the tournament. The Merchiston Sevens was a tremendous School event, when we hosted a huge number of teams from as far afield as Canada. The U14 team reached the semi-finals of their event, whilst the U15 and U18 teams both won their respective competitions; the latter final was contested between our A and B sides which was a credit to the strength of our current senior sides. Mark Appleson has been selected as the U17 backs coach for Scotland, and will be working with three of our own pupils in this team. Moreover, three more of our Upper Sixth have been selected for the U18 Scotland side; it is a huge achievement for Merchiston to have six internationalists in one year. Twelve boys have also been involved in the Edinburgh integrated sides at U16, U17 and U18 levels.
 The curling team has won 11 of its matches and has continued to go from strength to strength, winning the Miller Drummond Cup for Scottish independent Schools again this year. The senior and colts fives teams are undefeated in all of their school matches this season and both teams won the Scottish Schools Fives Championships at their respective levels. The basketball team is currently rebuilding, due to the high number of first team players departing at the end of last year; however, the team reached the last sixteen in the Scottish Schools Plate competition. In shooting, one pupil has been selected for the Scottish B team and the results of the postal competitions will be revealed early next term. We are delighted to announce that one of our boys won the U17 Scottish Schools Cross-country Championship; he was also selected to represent Scotland at a recent event in Nottingham and at an international match in Perth at the end of the month. All the boys in the Senior School were involved in their respective School cross-country events in the last two weeks of term. Football matches have been going on all term at both U18 and U16 levels. The senior team is young and is looking strong for next year, but it has won three of its matches and this team will be  boosted by the strong U16 team, which is coming through; all of these boys will be looking forward to their tour to Valencia in October. Sub Aqua, including gaining a diving qualification, continues to be popular with dives happening in the School pool and out on the east coast.
Although out of season, Charles Swan has been preparing the cricket sides for the Summer Term and two boys have been selected to represent the Scotland U15 team which is touring South Africa over Easter. A recent Merchistonian will also be on this tour representing the country in the U20 category.
Finally the Tennis Academy has continued its full-time training programme and the boys have had lots of individual successes. One boy won the U16 doubles event at the Scottish Indoor Championships and another won the Ariel Indoors Series at the Gannochy Centre in Stirling. |
