It really is a minefield. For every argument, there is a counter argument. Every wrong can be seen as a right, depending on which side of the fence you sit.
But let's get one thing straight: Otago Boys' High School has always been good at rugby. Often, it has been the best school side in Dunedin. By a long way, at times.
When it was decided to establish a Highlanders First XV competition, the hope was other sides would raise their efforts.
But that has not happened. A few schools have had the odd purple patch, but these days Otago Boys' is head and shoulders above other teams in Dunedin and the wider Highlanders region. History suggests that was always going to happen.
Plus, Otago Boys' players train hard. A lot harder than anyone else.
Otago Boys' is not setting its sights on winning a provincial competition. It is looking at a national prize.
So, should Otago Boys' opt out of the Highlanders competition and go play in the Dunedin colts competition, as it used to in previous seasons? That hardly seems right when the region has a competition which, by its pure definition, should include Otago Boys' High School.
As for poaching, active recruitment, scholarships - whatever you call it - that is another argument.
It hardly seems fair but when did life become fair? Every top rugby school in New Zealand plays by those rules and recruits heavily.
If you believe the top schools become that by just getting players from within their own boundaries through pure measures then you probably still think Lance Armstrong just had great milkshakes and Tiger Woods is a monogamist.
It is all well and good standing up for principles and morals, but they have no friends when you are getting beaten every Saturday.
And what is wrong with a young rugby player wanting to be as good as he can be?Sport matters to boys. It means a lot - always has, always will.
The problem in Dunedin is there are not enough good players to go around.
There were about 400 boys going into year nine this year in Dunedin. Compared with other centres, like Auckland, that is not many.
Say less than half of them play rugby - that does not leave a deep talent pool.
To be competitive on a national scale you probably need to have the cream of that talent in one team.
A national dream is, rightly or wrongly, going to leave some local carnage.
But isn't it up to the likes of King's, John McGlashan and Waitaki Boys' to start training harder and recruit smarter, if they wish to match Otago Boys'?
As for players going back for another year, that really is a puzzler.
Doesn't every kid want to escape school after 13 years? Isn't 13 years of being told what to do every day enough for a young person? Who wants to hang around for another year at school?
Leave them out of it. They've had their turn. Go play in someone else's backyard.
Note: Otago Daily Times rugby writer Steve Hepburn was educated - and played First XV rugby - at Kaikorai Valley High School (now College).
