Dundee High captain Chris Jollands desperately wants to take the Brewin Dolphin Cup out of the capital for the first time in since 2007 and record the school’s first title at the fourth attempt when they contest the final with George Watson’s College next week.
Scotland Under-18 player Jollands will lead the school XV out on the international pitch at Murrayfield to take on the defending champions with a large contingent from the city due to follow the team, coached by head of PE Alan Campbell, as they try to win Scottish School rugby’s biggest prize.
Dundee High had a handsome semi-final victory over George Heriot’s School on the 4G pitch at Murrayfield just before the Scotland-Japan test a week ago and now get the chance to play on Scottish rugby’s most hallowed surface.
“It’s a fantastic achievement to reach the final here at Murrayfield and something the whole school is excited about,” said Chris.
“We’ve been building towards the Under-18 Cup final for two years and now that we’re here we want to go the whole way.”
Dundee High School have been to three previous finals but have yet to win.
In 1997, the first year independent schools competed in what was then the Scottish Schools’ Cup, the team coached by Sandy Hutchison lost a heartbreakingly narrow match at Meggetland against Galashiels Academy.
In 2004 and 2005, Bruce Beckett’s team that included now-Scottish international Richie Vernon twice reached the final which was by now played on the main pitch at Murrayfield but lost close matches on both occasions to Dollar Academy.
“Our school haven’t had this opportunity in years but we hope we can change that this time around,” added Chris.
The last school from outwith Edinburgh to win the cup were the Bell Baxter High team from Cupar in 2007, which included now Scotland cap Peter Horne.
The last team to successfully retain the trophy were Dollar who featured international-to-be John Barclay when they won it three times in succession from 2003 to 2005.