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Merchiston Rugby

So far Merchiston has produced 76 Schoolboy Internationalists since 1966.

Incredibly amongst schools, many of those have gone onto full International honours; in fact Merchiston can boast a tally of 64 full Internationalists. Notably 4 of these were capped whilst still being at School, the most recent being W.G.Neilson in 1894.

Some of our famous old boys include Sir Louis Greig, Roger Baird and John Jeffery (Merchiston's three British Lions) - although most recently the likes of Peter Walton, Craig Joiner, Ronnie Eriksson, Duncan Hodge, Philip Godman, Jamie Mayer and Iain Fullerton have made the transition from Schoolboy to Senior International. We are also delighted to now have Fraser Brown and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne as our latest capped Merchistonians when they gained their first cap in 2013 and 2015 respectively.


History

More than a century ago Dr. H H Almond (the then Headmaster of Loretto School) wrote these words in the Reverend F Marshall’s book on rugby football: “I have no hesitation in saying that in recent years I believe the best football in the world has been played at Merchiston”

H.H.Almond was one of the umpires when Scotland beat England at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, on Monday March 27, 1871 in the first Rugby international ever played.

Since that day Merchiston regularly had representatives in Scotlands national team, indeed no fewer than 4 boys were to be capped by Scotland at full international level while still at Merchiston – J A Campbell (1878), T Anderson (1882), W Neilson (1891) and W G Neilson (1894). Anderson actually achieving the remarkable double of also being capped at cricket before his schooldays were done.

Another memorable distinction was that 4 Merchiston brothers – G T Neilson, W Neilson, W G Neilson and R T Neilson – all played for Scotland.

Merchiston has produced no fewer than 64 internationalist – 57 wearing the dark blue of Scotland, but 4 playing for Ireland and two for England.

Nine of Merchiston's internationalalists captained their country

The match between Merchiston and Edinburgh Academy is the oldest continuous fixture in the entire world of rugby with, at the moment Merchiston having won 136 of the 230 games to the Academy’s 66 with 28 having been drawn.