NSW U16 Trial Games and Selections 2011

[Lindommer]

Clearly they have pushed them towards Sydney Juniors. Pressure on GPS and CAS players to play village rugby otherwise they will not be selected.

What about the country boys who attend boarding schools in Sydney? Kurtley Beale springs to mind from the immediate past but before him blokes like Tim Gavin, Warwick Waugh, David Lyons, even stretching back to Jon White, Hugh Rose, Jim Lenehan, Bill McKidd, Mick Mathers and Garrick Fay in the 50s and 60s boarded at Sydney schools. Joeys still has a very high proportion of boarders in year 12, few if any of those boys have an affiliation or interest in junior district rugby.

ARU, get a sponsor, the more boys exposed to rep rugby at this age the better.

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

The concept will work if the selectors do their homework properly and try and see as many under 16 players in the state as humanly possible. However if they want to take the easy option and just watch GPS/CAS and high level junior club rugby in the North and East of Sydney then the project will fail miserably.

I am sure they will take the first option though.

I have no doubt that Country Juniors will ensure that their players are given as much chance to be selected as the City boys. I also have no doubt that politics will ensure that there is representation in both sies from the three groups.

The concept of NSW 1 and 2 has been mooted for a few years now. in the last two years the Schools side and the Sydney side were selected using a "draft" system where in 2009 Sydney got first pick (Schools won) and in 2010 Schools got first pick (Sydney won). In both these years and for a few years earlier NSW Country were ouplayed and finished behind WA and VIC

 

[CTPE]

I think you'll find that quite a few of the country boarders attending GPS and CAS schools do in fact have an affiliation with with a junior district club particularly those that commence boarding in years 7 & 8. Quite a few join their day boy mates in playing in the Sydney Sunday comp at least until year 10 (U16s). After that I think that the preference of the schools rugby coaches is that they focus on school rugby in their final two years at school.

 

[Parra GM]

The concept will work if the selectors do their homework properly and try and see as many under 16 players in the state as humanly possible. However if they want to take the easy option and just watch GPS/CAS and high level junior club rugby in the North and East of Sydney then the project will fail miserably.

I am sure they will take the first option though.

Call me sceptical but I dont share your confidence in a clearly defined and transparent selection process

 

[juniors spectator]

Strong rumour that NSW will be fielding 3 teams again this year but no decision on whether NSW 1, 2 and 3 or SJRU, Schools and Country!

 

[CTPE]

It'll be interesting to see the selection process if it's NSW 1, 2 & 3

 

[F1Fan]

Strong rumour that NSW will be fielding 3 teams again this year but no decision on whether NSW 1, 2 and 3 or SJRU, Schools and Country!

word is ARU bowed to the pressure from NSWRU on behalf of the 3 affiliates and it will be the schools, country, sjru and not NSW 1,2 and 3.

Finally something that ARU HPU has been involved in where sanity prevailed

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

word is ARU bowed to the pressure from NSWRU on behalf of the 3 affiliates and it will be the schools, country, sjru and not NSW 1,2 and 3.

Finally something that ARU HPU has been involved in where sanity prevailed

Why is it sanity to have the best players split over 3 teams. With a NSW 1,2 and 3, if the selection process was correct you would have, say the best 20 in NSW 1 irrespective of where they are form, the next best 20 in nSW 2 and the next 20 in NSW 3. If SJRU, Schools and Country each submit teams then not all the best players will be there. Say the best 50 players are from SJRU and Schools but only 44 are required then 6 players who should be there will miss out because Country will be the third team

At the moment NSW has only 2 teams capable of winning the Championships, with Country being the third team. If its NSW 1,2 and 3 then we would have 3 realistic chances to win

 

[footyman]

there will be only 2 teams NSW 1 and NSW 2 and NSW 1 will be selected to be stronger than NSW 2 it will mimic the QLD under 16s selection process. They will be selected into one squad from there they will be spilt into 2 teams

 

[juniors spectator]

Reliably informed today that there will be no teams from NSW at the ARU 16s Nationals! The NSW Board wants to still send 3 teams as they have in the past but the ARU won't let them. So NSWRU isn't sending any!

 

[International Badboy]

Juniors i think you might be a bit wrong here

 

[Malcsy]

I'm guessing that the following confirms, at least, that neither SJRU or Country will have their own representation at the Nationals... http://www.nswjuniors.rugbynet.com.au/verve/_resources/NSWJuniorPathways2011.pdf

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

Sorry Malcsy but it doesn't. In fact it might confirm that NSW Juniors will not be putting teams in the Nationals as it is not shown on this calendar, and leaving it up to Sydney Juniors and Country Juniors to enter teams.

The Pathways document defines the pathways for club players, both in Sydney and Country, to make the NSW side that plays ACT and Qld at the end of the year. The document describes the process which is no different to what has gone in the past (know a country kid now 18 that has progressed in past years along these pathways). The Nationals, which are played at the end of Sept (notice there is a break in the calendar at this time), involve Sydney Juniors and Country Juniors, two different teams to that shown in the NSW Juniors pathway.

 

[Malcsy]

I think you've got your wires crossed Iluv... The games against ACT and QLD were for 15s and 17s. Check last years document and pay attention to Stage 4... Looks a bit different this year... http://westsjnrs.rugbynet.com.au/verve/_resources/NSWJunior_Pathways.pdf

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

I think you've got your wires crossed Iluv... The games against ACT and QLD were for 15s and 17s. Check last years document and pay attention to Stage 4... Looks a bit different this year... http://westsjnrs.rugbynet.com.au/verve/_resources/NSWJunior_Pathways.pdf

I take your point that 16's is a new age for NSW but I don/t think that the introduction of this tem will prevent Sydney and Country from putting teams in the Nationals

 

[Malcsy]

I am reading it that the introduction of this team in 16s means that Sydney and Country won't be entering teams in the Nationals (the entry criteria being set by ARU I believe). Whether this means that NSW will be represented by a NSW 1 and 2 (as mentioned previously in the thread), whether NSW will enter a team at all (as also mentioned) or whether there will be an U16 National Championship at all remains to be seen.

 

[CTPE]

The concept will work if the selectors do their homework properly and try and see as many under 16 players in the state as humanly possible. However if they want to take the easy option and just watch GPS/CAS and high level junior club rugby in the North and East of Sydney then the project will fail miserably.

I am sure they will take the first option though.

I think that the ARU has probably done a lot of homework for both the NSWJRU and the SJRU over the off-season as far as unearthing U16 talent in Western Sydney is concerned. They held trials in September 2010 for boys interested in being part of their West Sydney Junior Gold Talent Centre 2010/2011 program conducted from October to March.

The trials were open to any boys who had played either club or school rugby in Western Sydney so there was a real mix of players from different schools plus school only players, club only players and boys who played both. Following the trials about 110 boys were selected to participate in weekly skills sessions at 5 different locations over the course of the program: Homebush, Penrith, The Hills, Campbelltown & Prariewood. They held trial games in late January between the various Centres and following the completion of the program in March announced an U16 ARU West JGRTC Merit Team of 23 players. It contains a diverse mix of boys from Government schools, GPS, CAS and other Independent schools. What matters I suppose is what the communication lines are like between the ARU and the NSWJRU & SJRU?

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

I am reading it that the introduction of this team in 16s means that Sydney and Country won't be entering teams in the Nationals (the entry criteria being set by ARU I believe). Whether this means that NSW will be represented by a NSW 1 and 2 (as mentioned previously in the thread), whether NSW will enter a team at all (as also mentioned) or whether there will be an U16 National Championship at all remains to be seen.

If NSW Juniors were going to put team(s) into the nationals I would have thought that this would have been included in the pathways document.

As for whether there will be a National Championship I can find no details of the tournament on any School or ARU site. I hope this tournament still goes ahead

 

[CTPE]

If NSW Juniors were going to put team(s) into the nationals I would have thought that this would have been included in the pathways document.

As for whether there will be a National Championship I can find no details of the tournament on any School or ARU site. I hope this tournament still goes ahead

The below table is taken from the "Championships" section of the ARU's rugby.com website at:

http://www.rugby.com.au/fixtures_re..._championship/national_u16_-_2010,141192.html

As you can see the U16 Nationals are pencilled in for late September at Riverview.

2011 Championship Dates
Championship Name Date(s) Venue
Australian Schools Division 2 Championship * 23 - 29 June 2011 Melbourne
National Women's Championship 1 - 5 July 2011 Brisbane
Australian Schools Division 1 Championship * 3 - 10 July 2011 Ballymore, Brisbane
National U18 Indigenous Championship** 2 - 7 April 2011 Alice Springs
National U16 Indigenous Championship** tbc tbc
National U16 Championship 25 - 30 Sept 2011 St Ignatius' College Riverview, Sydney

 

[CTPE]

I am reading it that the introduction of this team in 16s means that Sydney and Country won't be entering teams in the Nationals (the entry criteria being set by ARU I believe). Whether this means that NSW will be represented by a NSW 1 and 2 (as mentioned previously in the thread), whether NSW will enter a team at all (as also mentioned) or whether there will be an U16 National Championship at all remains to be seen.

Received this from a mate today which probably sums up where things are at for the NSW U16 teams at this years U16 Nationals. It's an article from The Australian last Thursday by Wayne Smith:

"NSW in battle with ARU over juniors"

"The NSW Rugby Union will not supply any teams to the national under-16 carnival in Sydney in September in a battle with the Australian Rugby Union that goes right to the heart of what is most important in the game.

Traditionally, NSW fields three teams at the carnival, one each from its key youth affiliates, Sydney Juniors (mainly for players who do not attend a private school), NSW Country Juniors and NSW Schools (primarily for those who do not play for a club).

The ARU, however, is determined to cut NSW's representation back to two state teams having no affiliation to the three junior groups. These teams effectively will be made up of players who might not necessarily be the best in their positions at present but who have been identified as potential Super Rugby and Test players five years down the track.

"It's like they're at a yearling sale trying to pick a Melbourne Cup winner," one official said.

NSWRU chairman Will Jephcott, in a letter to the ARU, said the national body's decision to reduce the number of teams from three to two was unwarranted.

"(It) will diminish the competitiveness of the under-16 nationals, reduce the opportunity for many talented players from NSW to attend and significantly damage the attractiveness and viability of our affiliate-based programs," wrote Jephcott.

Michael Dodd, president of NSW Country Juniors, described the ARU's heavy-handed approach as "absolutely disgusting".

"They have no thoughts for kids playing grassroots rugby west of the Blue Mountains," Dodd said. "Take away the under-16 carnival and the desire of kids to play country rugby is going to suffer because there is no pathway to get into the Waratahs or Wallabies.

"This is all about paying the current Wallabies huge amounts of money and cutting back everywhere else."

NSW Rugby's youth director John Spana said his state would not put up any barriers to anything the ARU does regarding the carnival with the national body almost certainly selecting the two teams. "But at the same time, we will not be involved with it, nor will we be supportive of it," Spana said.

He said the ARU stance not only would disadvantage country players but also talented footballers in the public school system.

"These kids don't have any meaningful opportunity to pursue their rugby aspirations other than through the affiliate-based programs," Spana said.

"When we bring this to the attention of the ARU, they show no concern or care for its impact. Moreover, they are adversarial and arrogant in their dealings with us."

Indeed, as opposed as junior officials are to what the ARU is trying to do, they are angered more by the manner in which it has rammed its plans through, utterly disregarding the wishes and expertise of volunteers who have spent decades involved with junior rugby at the grassroots level.

"We see it as disenfranchising the volunteers," said NSW Schools life member Geoff Garland.

The ARU initially had attempted to pare back NSW's representation at last year's carnival but when it was persuaded it was too late to implement such a major change, it then forced the NSWRU to sign an agreement pledging to proceed down that path this year.

In his written response to the NSWRU, ARU chief John O'Neill said it was extremely disappointing "that your union has backed out of its written agreements".

But The Australian has been told by numerous sources that, with the ARU controlling the purse strings, NSW felt bullied into signing.

Spana said: "I don't think the ARU believes volunteers can do a professional job.

"There's a level of arrogance in that thinking.

"We desperately need a new level of leadership at the ARU to drive a culture of open and honest communication."