The competition reaches its climax over the next couple of weeks, with semifinals to be played tomorrow.
King's High School will take on Southland Boys' High School in Invercargill, and Otago Boys' High School hosts John McGlashan College.
King's coach Paul Miller is concerned the competition has lost sight of why it was established.
''From what I know, and was told, the competition was set up to grow players in the Highlanders region.
"But to be honest, what it has become is about bragging rights for teams,'' he said.
''Ultimately, what you want to do is grow local players. But some schools have gone past that.
"They are creating depth by bringing in some players that are 18 or in some cases 19 to bolster their teams.''
He said 20 years ago, when he was at school, some players came to the school in the later years to bolster teams but nothing on the scale which happened now.
''You are looking at 10 to 12 dispensations for some teams. All you are doing is creating more work for people and not doing anything for the game here in the future.''
Miller knew of one player brought to Dunedin for this season who turned 19 at the start of the year.
Other imported players were leaving Dunedin as soon as the season finished.
He questioned whether that was what school rugby was about.
He said Auckland had done the same thing for years and it had struggled at provincial and Super rugby levels.
Miller said he supported the idea of Otago Boys' playing in the senior colts grade, and he would like King's to go to the junior colts grade.
It was more important to get the structure right below those grades which could help local players.
Most coaches spoken to by the Otago Daily Times wanted Otago Boys' to stay in the Highlanders competition.
Otago Boys' has won 52 games in a row and appears destined to win a fourth straight title.
Its coach, Ryan Martin, said from a rugby playing point of view, he favoured moving to the colts grade, but it was not as straightforward as that.
John McGlashan College coach Mike Idour strongly supports Otago Boys' staying in the First XV competition.
''We look forward to playing them . . . You are not going to win all the time and they will get beaten. It will happen,'' Idour said.
''It has really lifted our standards. We would not be as good as we are now without Otago Boys' being there.''
St Kevin's College coach Justin Fowler said the school enjoyed playing Otago Boys'.
The school had raised standards across the board, and it would be a shame if it moved on.
He believed the competition had provided a springboard for Otago Boys' to improve.
South Otago High School coach Adam Whaanga said the standard of the competition had been raised by Otago Boys', though it was tough for younger players at smaller schools to compete with the Dunedin powerhouse's big forwards.
Mt Aspiring College coach Hamish Crosbie wondered what would happen to the competition if Otago Boys' went up.
King's may follow suit and that may kill the competition, he said.
It was a challenge to play Otago Boys' but his side looked forward to it.
Waitaki Boys' High School coach Ryan Bambry said Otago Boys' was the marquee team, and the competition would suffer if it left.
He said it was a tough decision, as Otago Boys' may need tougher competition when it went to play nationally.
Dunstan High School coach Tom Blaikie said his side always wanted to play against the best, and Otago Boys could be beaten.
Dunstan was the last Otago side to do so.
However, Blaikie felt Otago Boys' should go up a grade for the sake of its rugby, and wondered if some of its players got bored running up big scores every Saturday.
