The coach of the unbeaten Otago Boys' High School First XV says in a strictly rugby sense it would be best to play in the colts grade but he admits it is not as simple as that.
Otago Boys' goes into the semifinals of the Highlanders First XV competition this weekend on a run of 52 unbeaten games in the competition and looks a red-hot favourite to win its fourth title in a row.
It has run up some big scores and has been pushed only by traditional foe Southland Boys' High School.
The run of victories has led to the inevitable question of whether Otago Boys' should go up a grade, where it played 10 years ago.
Otago Boys' High School coach Ryan Martin said although the standard of rugby had improved in the Highlanders First XV competition, if he was asked he would be keen to play in the senior colts grade in Dunedin.
''As a coach, in a purely rugby sense I would love the team to play in the colts grade.
"But it is a very political decision and will be made by people above me,'' he said.
''Ideally from a coach's perspective we want to play the best rugby week in, week out and we would get that in the colts grade.
"That is not being disrespectful to the Highlanders competition.''
It was an issue that came up from time to time but nothing was in the pipeline at this stage.
He was confident his players would handle the more physical colts grade.
The Otago Boys' High School second XV plays in the junior colts grade and made the semifinals this year.
''Overall I think the standard of the Highlanders competition has lifted each year and is getting better.
"The boys enjoy playing in it and playing against other schools in the region.''
He said the 2012 team won games by 100 points and still made it to the national final.
The Highlanders First XV competition attracted a high media profile and so leaving that would lessen profile for the school.
Otago Boys' High School rugby administrator Brian Ashwin said the idea of moving up to the colts grade had been discussed but never in a formal way.
''We have talked about it but for now we are happy to be playing in the Highlanders competition.
"The way we have played in our interschools, we have not been affected by playing in the Highlanders competition,'' Ashwin said.
''But we are in a competition where we are not getting beaten. So is that a competition for us?
''You could play in a grade where you are put under more pressure, you don't have as much ball and only one or two chances come along.
"In the Highlanders competition you are not put under as much pressure.
"If you make a mistake you're always going to get the chance again.''
The side dropped out of the senior colts grade in 2006 and the Highlanders school competition started up in 2009.
Ashwin said the Highlanders competition enjoyed a high profile which was important for the school.
''And we are the marquee team in that competition. So it would be a big call, a very big call, to leave the competition.
"It is not something we would do frivolously ... We have had some good games in the competition but too many of the games are not competitive.''
Highlanders First XV competition committee chairman Don McFarlane said losing Otago Boys' High School would be a blow, as it was the benchmark team, but he admitted it did not get many hard games.
The competition would be reviewed at the end of the season and the two-pool system was likely to be changed.
The competition's major sponsor, infrastructure company Fulton Hogan, declined to comment on what it would do if Otago Boys' pulled out of the competition.
