Scottish Rugby bosses say they hope to bring the Caledonia Cup back to Perth after the first staging in the city was declared a resounding success.
Organisers Scottish Rugby, Perthshire RFC and Perth and Kinross Council brought the competition’s biggest ever finals to the Fair City at the weekend, when 30 teams of boys and girls took to the pitches.
It was the first time the girls and boys had played on the same day and the milestone boosted numbers on and off the field.
A 2,000-strong crowd looked on as teams from as far as Orkney, Caithness and Stornoway competed for the silverware.
Spectators were also given an opportunity to pose with some of the biggest prizes in the game, with the Calcutta Cup and Pro14 trophy both on display.
Perthshire’s under-15s boys beat Dunfermline in the cup final, while the Eagles’ under-16s beat Deeside/Garioch comfortably in the shield final later in the afternoon.
The Tayside and Fife girls teams also scooped trophies, with the under-18s beating Highland in the shield final and under-15s beating Grampian by a thumping 50-0 in the bowl final.
Scottish Rugby’s Caledonia Competitions Administrator Mark Salter said everyone was delighted with how the event went.
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He said: “It was brilliant. We had a fantastic festival of youth rugby.
“Our objective was to get more youths enjoying rugby and playing rugby, and I think we managed to hit the bullseye .
“We had around 750 youngsters playing across the five pitches and then give or take 2,000 spectators.”
The trophies were handed out by representatives of the Scottish Rugby Council, capping a successful day for the youth game.
Mr Salter said there was every reason to hope for a rerun in the city in the future.
“This was the first time we hosted the event in Perth,” he said.
“In the past, we had trophies at Madras in St Andrews and Highland RFC in Inverness. This is certainly the biggest that it’s ever been, due to there being boys and girls taking part.
“The desire is to run it here again, and we’re having a debrief in the coming days to see if that will be possible.
“More and more clubs keep getting involved and this year we had twice as many fixtures as ever before.
“Having the Calcutta Cup and Pro14 Trophy there for spectators to get their photo taken with went down a storm too.”
