PUPILS at Dunbar Grammar School have got their hands on a trophy dating back almost 140 years ahead of a Scotland versus England showdown.

The two countries meet in the Six Nations at Murrayfield Stadium this weekend, with the Calcutta Cup on the line.

Ahead of Saturday’s clash and as part of Mitsubishi Motors’ pre-match build up, the trophy, which dates back to 1879, stopped off at Dunbar Grammar School.

Twenty-three times Scotland cap Andy Nicol and Phil Vickery, who was a key member of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup winning squad, were also at the school, which came out on top of the Mitsubishi UK Motors Outlanders Schools Conference 2017/18, beating Knox Academy, Linlithgow, Trinity and Lasswade to the title.

Conference games are played home and away, with the aggregate scores for all the fixtures, S1-U18, taken into the final league table.

Paul Sutherland, PE teacher at the secondary school, was delighted to be involved in the build-up.

He said: “We had been contacted by Mitsubishi Motors, I think it was maybe down to the fact we had won the conference this year with the rugby team.

“They got in touch saying the Calcutta Cup was going on a journey from Twickenham to Murrayfield and asked if we wanted to host Phil Vickery and Andy Nicol, who came and presented the cup to us.”

Youngsters in S1-S3 were given the chance to miss an hour of lessons on Tuesday morning while filming took place at the school ahead of the weekend’s fixture.

Pupils had the chance to hold and take pictures of the cup, as well as getting autographs from the two ex-internationals, British and Irish Lions and current television pundits.

The Calcutta Cup was first contested in Edinburgh in 1879, with the spoils shared in a 3-3 draw.

Since then, Scotland have lifted the trophy 39 times to England’s 71, with the remaining 14 finishing in a draw.

A home victory on Saturday would see the Scots end a ten-year wait to win the prize and also end England’s chances of a Grand Slam.

Mr Sutherland told the Courier a number of pupils were planning to head along to Murrayfield and cheer on Scotland as they attempt to lift the trophy for the first time since a 15-9 victory in 2008.

He said: “Andy Nicol was certainly asking for all the pupils to shout ‘come on Scotland’.

“He gave a speech and just chatted about the history of the cup.”