The depth of rugby at King's High School is about to get a test as the school's second XV joins the Otago premier schools competition this season.
The competition has expanded to 12 teams, up from 10, with the inclusion of Otago Boys High School First XV, which played in the premier colts competition during the past three seasons.
Not wanting to have a bye, the Otago secondary schools rugby council had asked Wakatipu High School in Queenstown if it wanted to join the competition.
It has been playing in the Southland competition for the past few years and has decided to stay in that competition.
Council chairman Greg Heller said options were looked at and in the end they decided to go with the second XV of King's joining the competition.
Other options included bringing in Southland Boys' High School or having a bye but neither was attractive.
Heller said the approach was made to King's and the school accepted the invitation.
The school had been dominant in junior grades over the past two years and its rugby programme was building depth.
King's High School Fiirst XV won the premier schools competition last year.
Heller said the 12 teams would be split into two pools to start with and teams in one pool would play teams in the other pool.
After pool play is completed, the top two teams in each pool go into the top division along with the next best performing teams from either pool.
The competition will split into two divisions, play against each other and finish with semifinals and a final. All up, there will be 13 games for each side in the competition.
Heller was mindful of blowout scores but he hoped stronger schools would play their whole squad when taking on so-called smaller schools.
It was important that any high school player, no matter what school he attended, had the opportunity to play in the premier schools competition in the region. Players had to be aged under 18 at January 1 this year although there were dispensations allowed.
The competition will get off to an exciting start with two games to be played at Forsyth Barr Stadium on May 5, the opening day.
Otago Boys' High School first XV will take on South Otago High School and there will be a rematch of last year's final when John McGlashan College meets King's High School.
A proposal to have even teams in the under-14 schools grade to avoid blowout scores and teams dominating is struggling to get buy-in from some schools, Heller said.
