Oxford University Rugby Team give Merchiston a Try!

As part of their Scottish tour, Oxford University Rugby team visited Merchiston Castle School, coaching the School rugby teams and giving them a valuable insight into rugby life.

The team visited Scotland from 17 to 28 September with a match against Scottish team, ‘Gael Force’, on 23 September.

Merchiston were honoured to welcome the team along with their Director of Rugby, Steve Hill.  The visit to the School included helping with the coaching of rugby teams, and also visiting the boarding houses to talk about the Oxford experience.  The team has a wide variety of experienced players, including Oliver Tomaszczyk, a former pupil of the School.

The visit offered boys at Merchiston the opportunity of coaching with International players, including Captain, Daniel Rosen, who addressed the whole school at assembly.  The team made use of the School sports facilities for their training, and watched Merchiston play some of their rugby fixtures.

There is a breadth of rugby talent at Merchiston including 1st XV coach, James Boyd, who coached the Oxford University side to victory at Twickenham, in last year's Varsity Match, along with Brendan Mckerchar, the new Director of Rugby at Merchiston, who has gained 2 rugby blues.  He commented: “I feel this is a fantastic opportunity for the Merchiston boys to see that it is possible to marry academia and sport at a very high level.  The boys not only got coaching from the team, but accessed their expertise and advice”.

For more information on on Oxford University Rugby Team visit www.ourfc.org