Storm Gareth did not detract from an entertaining final round of qualifying last week in the 2019 SP Energy Networks Warriors Championship as St Thomas Aquinas RC Secondary School competed for a place in the semi-finals.

Despite the blustery conditions at Scotstoun Stadium, the home of Glasgow Warriors, the five competing schools produced some exciting rugby with 223 tries scored across 30 matches.

Each school had three teams competing, an S1 and S2 boys’ team and an under-15s girls’ team.

St Thomas’ three teams won six and drew one of their twelve matches scoring 45 tries in all.

It was Wallace High School who progressed to the knock-out stage for the third year running, however, getting the better of St Thomas Aquinas, Marr College, Jordanhill School and Boclair Academy.

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Megan McGinley, 15, who plays for St Thomas Aquinas, was hugely impressive throughout, showing a variety of skills in both attack and defence.

The girls’ captain plays for Glasgow and the West and hopes to follow in the footsteps of older sister Siobhan by playing for the Scotland national side.

She said: “Siobhan is in the Scotland Under-18s team and we both have ambitions to play for the full Scotland team together in the future.

“Rugby was always seen as a boys’ sport when I was younger which annoyed me so I thought I should give it a try.

“There were only two girls who played at school when I first started playing four years ago but I was keen to stick at the sport and went to play for Hillhead Jordanhill like my sister.

“Now we have a school team which is great and I really like how girls’ rugby has grown in recent years.

“It’s a different sport to many others but I find rugby exciting and you get to meet new friends.

“Playing in this tournament against other schools helps me develop individually and also helps our team grow and improve.”

More than 1,000 girls and boys from 25 schools are competing in this year’s competition which will give a platform to grassroots talent to display their skills a