Although no official announcement has yet been made by Scottish Rugby the introduction of school leagues for next season is hardly a state secret.

However, what has been less aired are wider plans to stimulate the game in both schools and clubs.

Constructing a competition for what is mainly a group of independent schools who have played each other for over 100 years is a comparatively easy task, even if the implementation of such a scheme faces tricky hurdles. Effecting change in the state sector is not so simple.

Nearly 95 percent of pupils in Scotland attend state schools, slightly more than in England, and so any increase in rugby within this sector is likely to be significant. Extra-curricular sport in state schools has suffered a serious decline while simultaneously leading independents have almost become specialist sports institutions, a fact backed up by the statistics from the London Olympics, showing that more than half the GB medallists were privately educated.

This comes at time when we are blitzed on an almost daily basis by reports telling us that youngsters are less fit and more worryingly are displaying levels of obesity approaching levels in America. It should have triggered action from the very top, but the truth is that successive governments, while making concerned noises, have never seriously addressed the matter.

Another difficulty schools face is finding staff willing to spend time on rugby. PE staff, traditionally the facilitators of extra-curricular sport, are now in the same overloaded boat as their non-PE colleagues, sunk below the waterline with container shipments of increased marking and curricular development that the Curriculum for Excellence demands.

Many private schools circumnavigate that obstacle by hiring outside staff to coach and look after teams, one school in Edinburgh understood to spend £60,000 per year on such help, a figure that state schools simply could not contemplate disbursing on sport.

Less eye-watering sums, however, may be made available to state schools, according to Colin Thomson, head of youth and schools rugby at Scottish Rugby, who is currently putting together a country wide plan to overhaul youth rugby in state schools and clubs utilising the large injection of cash from the BT deal.

"We want to invest in schools and if that means paying teachers then so be it. But we would also envisage outside help from coaches, development officers and SVQ modern apprentices," said Thomson, who is on a mission to increase numbers of youngsters playing rugby.

Thomson believes that sport and rugby in particular can become obsessed with winning. "For too long we've focussed on outcomes and not the process. What we have to concentrate on is achieving a sustained experience of rugby from S1 to under-18.

"The independent sector has that. What keeps youngsters motivated is a sustained level of participation. We want to target a number of state schools and make sure that they can have a minimum of ten games per season and two sessions per week of rugby." stated Thomson, adding : "Where we've invested in state schools we've seen good results."

Thomson points to the likes of Kelso High School, Carrick Academy, Grange Academy, Cumnock Academy and Lenzie Academy, where investment has brought about success. But, he stresses, reinvigorating state school rugby depends on a critical factor.

"If there isn't a dedicated teacher or a head teacher committed to driving rugby then it simply doesn't work. We also have to have schools speaking to clubs. What you need is a close link like Bell-Baxter High School and Howe of Fife." stated Thomson, conscious always of selling the positives of rugby.

"The Curriculum for Excellence has a number of aims which chime with the ethos of rugby. We're a value laden sport and we're very much about producing confident young adults. I'd also add that sports participation and academic success correlate positively" said Thomson, adding, in a plea for progress : "We can't go one with where we are right now."