The claims were made by former Wallaby Nick Farr-Jones following Scots' 101-nil thrashing of Newington College in Saturday's fourth round of the GPS rugby competition.

In an email sent to the school community on Tuesday, Dr Ian Lambert said he would not allow "shallow and misguided criticisms [to] be directed at them [Scots students] without rebuttal".

Saturday's demolition by Scots of the co-winners of last year's competition has reignited the debate on sport in Sydney's private schools. Farr-Jones, a Newington old boy, said change was needed to the competition to protect boys from harm and to stop mismatches.

He said that private schools should work to ensuring a level playing field, by capping the number of athletes on sports scholarships.

But Dr Lambert's email denied the aspersion that the school was stacking the team with players on sports scholarships.

"Scots is not professionalising schoolboy sport. We unashamedly aim for excellence in sport in the same way we aim for excellence in music, mathematics or any other subject," he wrote.

"Our sporting teams are no different. They plan, practice and then execute with precision on the field."

He said if performance excellence is being professional, "then as a College that is a tag I am prepared to wear."

Dr Lambert further criticised media reports on Monday in News Ltd publications, which quoted former Wallaby and Newington old boy, Phil Kearns, as saying the Scots victory was "dreadful for rugby".

 

"Earlier today I took a telephone call from former Wallaby Phil Kearns (1989-1999). He rang to let me know personally that his comments had been misquoted in the press. Not everything you read in the press or online is true," he said.

In his email, Dr Lambert said that the headmaster of Newington College, Dr David Mulford, had released a statement complimenting Scots on the win.

"Such a score-line shows how good Scots currently are with their 1st XV Rugby team," Dr David Mulford was quoted as saying. "Newington had been hit with key player injuries plus were affected with a major gastro attack in the last few weeks. However, Newington acknowledges the superb teamwork and preparation of the Scots team.

"Even if we had been at full strength, we would have struggled to be competitive in this fixture. Newington understands that sport can go in cycles. We will welcome Scots back to Newington for the round 2 fixture," he said.

Scots will play competition co-leaders St Ignatius College, Riverview in round five of the rugby competition on Saturday.

In 2013 the basketball team at Scots College was embroiled in controversy after claims from rival schools that it offered prohibited inducements to recruit young athletes.