The number of dispensations in the Highlanders First XV competition has risen by more than 500% since it started, with more players coming in from overseas.
The Otago Daily Times has obtained a list of dispensations given to teams last season for the school competition and it shows only one team - Dunstan High School - out of 14 did not have any. Some sides had more than others because they used players from smaller schools to build up their squads, but other teams appear to be bringing in players from well outside the region for no other reason than to boost the strength of their side.
The competition is due to change next year as marquee team Otago Boys' High School leaves and plays in the premier colts grade in the Dunedin competition.
The competition will expand to 16 teams with Taieri College and Kavanagh College included, along with one other team, which is yet to be decided.
There have been suggestions the Otago Boys' High School Second XV could be promoted but this has been hosed down by other schools, who want to keep the competition as a First XV contest and also fear the second-string Otago Boys' team being in the competition would take players from other schools.
The competition started in 2009 with the ambition of improving the standard of school rugby in the southern region.
Whether it has done this is open to debate but what it certainly has done is accelerate the movement of players between schools.
In the first year of the competition, there were 14 dispensations given to players to play for a school they did not attend.
Players who attend small schools will often be given a dispensation to play for a school with a team in the competition so the player can play at a higher level.
New Zealand schools representative Gavin Stark attended Blue Mountain College but played for South Otago High School in the competition and made the national schools side last year.
Last season, no fewer than 76 dispensations were granted, with 19 non-domestic, or overseas, players allowed to play in the competition.
Mount Aspiring College, which came into the competition a couple of years ago, had 12 players last season who attended Cromwell College and Wakatipu High School. This was allowed, as none of the three schools in the area would on its own have sufficient strength to field a competitive team in the region.
But other schools appeared to be pushing questionable boundaries this season.
Southland Boys' High School, a school with a strong rugby tradition, had eight players given dispensations, with three of those termed non-domestic.
Waitaki Boys' High School had five dispensations, four of them for non-domestic players.
One of those players turned 19 at the start of this year. The competition is supposed to be for players aged under 18 at the start of the year.
St Kevin's College had five dispensations, including two players, both overseas players, turning 19 in January this year.
Otago Boys' High School has seven players given dispensations, with one player a non-domestic, and King's High School had five players granted dispensations, although none of them were non-domestic players.
New rules have been proposed for next year's competition to cut down on the non-domestic players.
Only two non-domestic players can be in the match-day squad, and any player changing schools will have a six-week stand-down before he is allowed to play for his new school.
