It’s time to get serious about Under 20s rugby
Roar Guru By Working Class Rugger, 2 Mar 2010 Working Class Rugger is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- ARU, Rugby Union, wallabies
Later this year will see the third edition of both the Junior World Cup (JWC) and Junior World Rugby Trophy (JWRT). The JWC being held in Argentina is the one that, as Australian Rugby supporters, has more relevance to us.
The first two editions have seen 16 teams compete.
However, this year’s JWC will only have 12 to maintain the highest levels of competition possible. The teams ranked 13-16 have been relegated back down into the JWRT, where they will compete for promotion with the lesser likes of the rugby world.
While we are hardly in danger of relegation as a Top 3 ranked nation at the senior international level, we greatly underachieve at this level. This is the direct result of the lack of competition for young rugby players outside of Schoolboys and Colts Rugby at club level.
Put simply, our ‘next generation’ Wallabies are not tested near enough against equally talented opposition. This is a situation that must be rectified to ensure we produce world class Wallabies well into the future.
While a senior National Competition is a long way off, if ever, at least outside any possible expansion of the Australian conference via Super Rugby, an U20’s competition could be the very solution needed to keep Australian rugby competitive at both Super and International level.
Considering the supposed increase in income that will be derived from the upcoming TV Deal, the ARU, alongside its stakeholder’s in the form of the State Union bodies, investigate the viability of either an Australian U20’s Championship or a Trans-Tasman version, both based along the Super Rugby system.
Both competitions would provide increased standard of play, regularly testing the best juniors in the country (and possibly New Zealand), as well as implementing a vital and long overdue development pathway.
If a Trans-Tasman Competition was attempted, both the Australian and New Zealand Super Rugby teams could run U20’s squads to play in curtain raiser prior to home matches while taking games to regional centres while the senior squad are on tour in either New Zealand, Australia or South Africa.
With 10 teams, the possibility of a 2 round championship could be a real chance.
If both the ARU and States choose to go it alone, alongside the 5 established State-based teams, the establishment of 3 new ‘Academies’ would be necessary to add increased depth and competition.
Western Sydney, Gold Coast and Adelaide could compete in a 14 game season, running concurrently, with Super Rugby again playing curtain raisers prior to their senior squads or in regional centres.
There is an issue of cost, but consider that this Championship would be less about money and more about development, opportunity and education. By using budget carriers and flying teams in the night before and flying them out directly after the game, it would keep the overall costs to a minimum.
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March 2nd 2010 @ 1:41pm
JF said | March 2nd 2010 @ 1:41pm | Report comment
A National University/Institution Competition has the potential to create a clearly defined pathway for talented school-leavers. Such a competition would create a far greater interest to the wider community than any provincial based equivalent.
March 2nd 2010 @ 1:58pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 2nd 2010 @ 1:58pm | Report comment
JF
I’m not too sure about that. Apart from the States and at least in regards to Rugby in Japan the University sports scene is of little or no interest to the majority of Australians. Yes, if you attended that particular institutuion then maybe but if as I would dare say the majority of our nation have not then it would present very little if any interest. However, linking thany U20 National League to University structures could be a real possibility. As I mentioned this will be as much a apart of the personal including educational development as it would be in their pursuit of a career in Rugby. Teams could form relationships with Universities. This would provide many of the teams with the necessary infrastructure to train as well as in many cases provide accomodation to those from outside commuter distance.
March 2nd 2010 @ 2:09pm
abfall said | March 2nd 2010 @ 2:09pm | Report comment
WCR/KOGS
The second tier Junior Rugby World Trophy is being held in Moscow from 18 to 30 May. Italy, Uruguay, Romania, PNG, Canada, Japan, Russia and Zimbabwe are taking part.
The top tier Junior Rugby World Cup is being held in the Rosario region of Argentina from 5 to 21 June. NZ, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, England, France, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji are taking part.
March 2nd 2010 @ 2:40pm
Face the Facts said | March 2nd 2010 @ 2:40pm | Report comment
i read that this morning on the irb website.
i note with interest that PNG are in the JRWT. good work for the boys. RU seems to be making big inroads in PNG. since the NRL has made it clear they wont expand there, i believe rugby has gained impetus. at the recent wellington sevens, PNG fielded a team of leaguies who had come across. with sevens in the olympics and PNG rugby on the rise i suspect that group of guys wont be the last to come across to rugby.
my tip is for italy and russia to set the pace in the JRWT.
March 2nd 2010 @ 4:44pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 2nd 2010 @ 4:44pm | Report comment
Face the Facts
I think you may very well be surprised. The US were quite impressive in last years edition as were Romania. The Canadians will have a good shot at the title this year. There into their 2nd National Youth League season (U20) and they will likely be a step above most of the competition. Chile would surprise you. They really know how to play the game. Still developing as a Rugby Nation but they have the basics down. Uruguay are another. The Kenyans werew very exciting last year. The PNG’s were a little out of there depth. Lacked the necessary size to truly compete but could turn it on when they were given the shot.
March 2nd 2010 @ 2:12pm
JF said | March 2nd 2010 @ 2:12pm | Report comment
The only people that will be interested in the Reds U/20 team is a small fraction of Reds supporters. A reds U/20 team has no ability to attract the attention of anyone who is not already a big rugby supporter. 8 universities each aligned with a provincial team is the perfect fit for a development competition. University is not elite, its not exclusive and a greater percentage of the population attend university than ever before, this is one area that Rugby has the potential to ‘claim’.
March 2nd 2010 @ 2:30pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 2nd 2010 @ 2:30pm | Report comment
JF
Good point. I haven’t actually said that they must be of the same ‘branding’ as their senior counterparts. Simply that they are directly linked into their development system. That way they would have access to the best possible levels of training. Giving it a little more thought may be it could be more workable than first thought. My main question is ‘Do people have a deep emotional connection to their Alumni?”. And by going down that path are we limiting its scope?.
March 2nd 2010 @ 5:11pm
JF said | March 2nd 2010 @ 5:11pm | Report comment
Whatever connection alumni have to their uni, it will be of greater benefit than anything that a competition of ‘new’ teams or academy squads can offer. I do agree with you about aligning with the professional teams, each provincial team would be aligned with a university academy. For example the reds would be aligned with UQ Rugby Academy, instead of the reds academy playing a handful of meaningless trial games a year, UQRA would play a proper season against other University based rugby academies. This then exposes young talent to a real season up against the nations best young talent, all vying for professional contracts. This is not limiting the scope of the competition but providing a genuine differentiated product, that can appeal to a wide audience. How many times have you heard on The Roar rugby supporters lamenting the commercialisation and genericising of our game. A university competition would bring back the passion, purity and rivalries of schoolboy rugby – into a more serious and accessible context.
March 2nd 2010 @ 5:23pm
AndyS said | March 2nd 2010 @ 5:23pm | Report comment
Yes, that should keep all the ill-educated riff-raff out and we can go back to the good old days of doctors and lawyers filling all the spots on the team. No more of those jumped up kids progressing directly from school to a professional career – make them do an 45+ contact hour engineering course on top of trying to make the jump to professional sport. If they can’t do it, or can’t get the grades…well, you can’t make omelettes, hey? They’ve always got the option of League if they don’t like amateurism.
March 2nd 2010 @ 5:35pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 2nd 2010 @ 5:35pm | Report comment
AndyS
Education is important and that’s half the reason for any model . It would not only assist in the development of their Rugby careers but there life outside of the game. They won’t necessarily become Doctors or Lawyer’s. There are many degree’s they can partake in. As JF has stated above University is no longer a statement of exclusivity. It’s only based around Universities there training facilities and accomodation set ups. There is nothing to stop simialr educational opportunities being created via the TAFE systems either.
March 2nd 2010 @ 5:40pm
AndyS said | March 2nd 2010 @ 5:40pm | Report comment
So no education, no play then? That should nicely thin the ranks of tradies, farmers, folk with family businesses, etc. Still, there is always the mines….
March 2nd 2010 @ 6:03pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 2nd 2010 @ 6:03pm | Report comment
AndyS
Are you in a confrontational mood today? You obviously missed the bit where I said that simialr educational arrangements could be made through the various TAFE institutions. That would include your tradies and co. Farmers could find the Agricultural Sciences/Management/Commerce degree’s offered very useful in the businesses as would small business owner’s with BA/Management degrees.
A Footballer’s career is very short relative to the time they will spend outside of the game. Not all will make the grade either. Why not arm them with a career afterwards. Whether it be professional or trade. I was brought up being told (and I’m from the SW suburbs of Syd) that education was vital. It didn’t matter what it was as long as I could make a life for myself out of it. I was just fortunate to be intelligent enough to be able to undertake a Law degree.
So after thinking it through, yes, no education, no play. They could easily train 2-3 hours a day aswell as study. It’s not that difficult.
March 2nd 2010 @ 6:20pm
AndyS said | March 2nd 2010 @ 6:20pm | Report comment
Not particularly, it just strikes me as an extension of the schoolboy system, the attachment to which I actually see as a detriment to the wider development of the code. Cricket, AFL, NRL – they all have schools playing and the like but their real strength and development pathway is through the clubs. They don’t exclude based on who has access: you join and you play.
So the plan is to do the same for the 18 and 19 year olds? What happens then, they drop out once they aren’t playing U20s? How about we just treat them like adults, instead of like deficient puppies that need to constantly be shown the light and the “right” way to live.
March 2nd 2010 @ 7:37pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 2nd 2010 @ 7:37pm | Report comment
AndyS
Where to start. All juniors in Rugby go to school. And I’ll bet they grow up for the most part with their parents emphasising the importance of education. Such as system wouldn’t just be retstricted to the traditional Private Associations such as GPS or CAS. It would be open to all. Including those who play there Rugby in Clubs. Again this wouldn’t exclude anyone.
As for the ‘right’ way to live. Who says we are telling them anything. All this would do is assist in providing an education alongside developing them for a prospective Rugby career. It not like it we are telling them not to go out and have fun or not to enjoy the experience.
March 3rd 2010 @ 3:35pm
AndyS said | March 3rd 2010 @ 3:35pm | Report comment
Sure all juniors go to school, but they don’t all go to rugby playing schools. And while the structures may not be restricted to GPS/CAS in theory, let’s face it, it pretty much is in practice. I read recently (I thought on TheRoar, but can’t spot it) an anecdote about someones kid who has excelled at all age level rugby he has played, but when his father enquired of a state official what the next step was he was told he needed to get the kid into a private school. Accurately recollected or not, how many state schools contributed to last years schoolboys squads relative to the distribution of students in each state?
Even then, it also excludes anyone not doing year 12 schooling. By focusing on school rather than age, it bins anyone doing apprenticeships or the like. It is inherently exclusionary, and continuing a similar structure into the universities would almost inevitably become more so. It is, for mine, a deeply flawed approach and desperately needs an overhaul – seriously, have you ever heard any of the other codes or sports express envy of the Union development model?
March 2nd 2010 @ 7:38pm
AndyS said | March 2nd 2010 @ 7:38pm | Report comment
Reflecting on it, perhaps I am misunderstanding – are you talking about establishing a scholarship program where players course costs are covered rather than them being paid to play? I could see that having some legs, especially given the cost of most university courses these days. But I certainly couldn’t see any future for a model that had a 17 year old presented with the choice of a) getting paid to play League, or b) having to pay (or incur a big debt) to attend university or equivalent simply in order to be allowed to continue playing amateur Union in the hope of an eventual pay-off.
An ARC would perhaps be cheaper though….
March 2nd 2010 @ 7:46pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 2nd 2010 @ 7:46pm | Report comment
AndyS
Maybe. But as I envisage it similar to American College athletes all costs would be covered. As most Universities having residential programs their board would be free as would their meals. Players could be issued a weekly allowance to cover any extra costs outside of the program.
March 2nd 2010 @ 10:37pm
JF said | March 2nd 2010 @ 10:37pm | Report comment
Yes – the scholarship is key. Rugby cannot compete with RL in terms of the availability and value of U20 contracts, but an education/development scholarship package provides a genuine alternative. At the moment we have a system that doesn’t give much hope for those who bloom a little later, by setting up a real development competition it would better identify those who are most suitable for the step up to provincial rugby.
The university/institution platform would make a suitable facilitator for such a development competition, it is not about creating an Ivy-League prep culture, but creating a differentiated culture of a balance between sport and life.
March 3rd 2010 @ 4:03pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 3rd 2010 @ 4:03pm | Report comment
AndyS
You can make it an open trial invitation. That way those who either do not go to a Rugby School or have left to undertake a apprenticeship can trial for a spot. The program could arrange this through the club systems. If they organised a morning and evening training split they can still work and study. Its not a huge obstacle.
In regards to other codes expressing envy at Rugby’s development pathways. They don’t simply because we really don’t have anything different. That’s the point of the article.
March 2nd 2010 @ 5:24pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 2nd 2010 @ 5:24pm | Report comment
JF
Would be interesting to see the University of Queensland Academy(Reds) take on Sydney/NSW University(NSW). Melbourne could play out of either Monash or Melbourne Uni’s, Canberra out of ANU, Perth out of UWA, and so on. Schoolboys taken to the next level.
Though I would add this. Some Rugby player’s may not be interested in attending University. They may choose to go down the TAFE path. If this actually got up an exemption should be made.
March 2nd 2010 @ 11:08pm
JF said | March 2nd 2010 @ 11:08pm | Report comment
Yes, the point is to create a competition in their own right, with their own rivalries, traditions and fans, rather than just a support act for the main event.
You are right in your second point, a balance would have to be struck as to the type of institutions that would be involved to make the competition accessible to all. This could be achieved by having not only universities delivering traditional professional qualifications, but also those that offer para-professional diplomas as well as technical institutions that offer a combination of academic and vocational training like Swinburne.
March 3rd 2010 @ 2:48pm
dave said | March 3rd 2010 @ 2:48pm | Report comment
I would have love to see a Super 14 University franchise all supported by University clubs in Australia. I know just about every states have a University club.
March 3rd 2010 @ 2:33pm
Ballywhore said | March 3rd 2010 @ 2:33pm | Report comment
What an original idea for an under 20s competition…
Wonder where that one came from?
Why is it that half of the stories on this site involve union fans dreaming about copying something from rugby league?
The envy is nearly palpable.
March 3rd 2010 @ 2:56pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 3rd 2010 @ 2:56pm | Report comment
Ballywhore
Did I say it was original. No. On several occasions during my time here I have stated that the structures RL have established are very effective and Rugby should look to setup similar Competitions. As I see it if their is a system that works then copy it. There is a degree of envy, only because of the development strcutures enacted. So what. Its just a thought. It may never happen. Personally I like JF’s suggestion just as much. Is it totally original, well, of course its not for all intensive purposes it would mimic the US College system.
March 3rd 2010 @ 2:35pm
Working Class Rugger said | March 3rd 2010 @ 2:35pm | Report comment
JF
You may have won me over.
March 3rd 2010 @ 2:45pm
dave said | March 3rd 2010 @ 2:45pm | Report comment
When did rugby league have a under 20 world cup ?