Juniors
The Tasmanian Junior Rugby Union has recently selected its representative sides in the U/15 and U/16 age groups for the 2011 Program.
2011 brings many changes to our junior union, with the most obvious being the move to the U/15 age group for the annual clash with the Victorian Schools Rugby Union (VSRU). Historically this age group has been played at the U/14 level, though the lack of playing numbers combined with the predominance for new players has led the selectors to broaden the selection pool and choose an U/15 team for this interstate carnival.
The VSRU is fully behind our move, though will still select an U/14 side to compete against the Tasmanian U/15 team. This approach will ensure a competitive team is selected while maintaining the opportunity for all Tasmanian Junior Rugby Players to participate in representative fixtures.
The U/15 program for this year will be:-
Saturday 25 June - Selectors to view local club competition games
Saturday 2 July - Selectors to view local club competition games
Monday 11 July - Team named on TRU website
N.B. Training times will be provided when this team is selected.
Please note that boys selected in this team will come from the current U/14 teams, U/14 boys playing in the U/16 competition and U/15 boys playing in the U/16 competition. The annual VSRU clash will be held in Hobart on the 13-14 August. All selected players will be allocated a VSRU player to host from Friday night to the Sunday afternoon.
A return clash in Victoria is still to be confirmed as at the date of preparing this notice.
The U/16 program for this year will be:-
Following on from our highly successful 2010 campaign the U/16 Representative Team will embark on a rigorous, challenging and testing program in preparation for the 2011 National U/16 championships to be held in Sydney, NSW.
The program has been further expanded to include 9 representative fixtures against varying opposition in NSW and here in Tasmania.
The selection process is:-
Saturday 25 June - Selectors to view local club competition games
Saturday 2 July - Selectors to view local club competition games
Monday 4 July - Team named on TRU website
N.B. Training times will be provided when this team is selected.
Please note that boys selected in this team will be selected from the current U/16 teams and U/16 boys playing in the U/18 competition.
The U/16 program has been designed and scheduled to enable this team to participate and compete in the National U/16 Championships in late September in Sydney NSW. These championships are the start of the “Pathway to Gold Program” run by the ARU with the very best of U/16 rugby players from throughout Australia participating.
It is an integral criterion that players selected in this team will be capable of safely participating in this higher level of competition.
Further details for both the U/15 and U/16 teams can be obtained from:-
Mark Wilson U/16 Manager 0439 394 367
Brett McGrath U/16 Coach 0419 331 801
Steve Ison U/16 Coach 0448 344 950