Under development?

[Burgs]

So, where are all of our matches RWA???
It can't be just put down to the old chestnut of "tyranny of distance" surely?

HSBC Junior Waratahs - 2010 Fixtures Date Home Away

Sat 6 Feb HSBC Junior Waratahs v Australian Barbarians??? Who are???
Sat 13 Feb Brumby Runners v HSBC Junior Waratahs
Fri 19 Feb HSBC Junior Waratahs v CASI (ARG)
Sat 27 Feb QLD Reds 2nd XV v HSBC Junior Waratahs
Sat 7 Mar HSBC Junior Waratahs v QLD Reds 2nd XV
Sat 14 Mar HSBC Junior Waratahs v Brumby Runners

[beige]

Rearrange the fixtures a little, add the Force in place of the select sides and create a points table and you have the makings of a decent little comp there.

[MI5_Dog]

Rearrange the fixtures a little, add the Force in place of the select sides and create a points table and you have the makings of a decent little comp there.

we could call it the Australian Rugby Championship!

[Ecky]

Australian Barbarians??? Who are???

Page 55 of today's West has Kieran Longbottom, Stefano Hunt, Justin Turner and Flip Manu in the Australian Barbarians side to play the Junior Waratahs in Sydney tomorrow (Sat 6th Feb)

[Burgs]

Thanks Ecky, no paper today
Who are the rest?
All S14 or some Clubbies?

[BDAVEY]

RWA = rugby wait awhile........... A DISEASE FOUND OUT WEST

[blue]

RWA = rugby wait awhile........... A DISEASE FOUND OUT WEST

Why no acadamy side or colts side made up purely of WA Juniors is not taking part is a disgrace.

But even at Junior level WA lags the rest.
QLD, NSW and VIC all start developing their juniors with clincs and representataive fixtures at Under 12's

WA doesn't even stsrt until under 14's.

Rugby WA needs to lift it's game in local development if they want to stop having to rely on eastern state players to make up the bulk of the Force squad.

They were originally boasting that within 5 - 10 years most of the players will be from Western Australia, but have done very little work in developing a strategy to develop their home grown junior ranks.

It is such a pity as they have many talanted juniors playing in the WA junior competition.

[SNOB]

You make some interesting points Blue.
Do any schools play rugby? and what is the structure here with the local clubs for juniors?
Dont they start with the under 6's that we used to see at Subi?
Is it a case of many young hopefulls have already moved to schools in the East so they can play rugby more often and when seen are picked by eastern clubs?

[zimeric]

its hugely expensive to up and relocate purely to help your 13-14yr old develop their rugby skills over east..
that being said the rugby program here in WA is far more comprehensive than you think.. the clubs and Schools have excellent participation and its only a matter of time before we start churning out top grade kids

[Lee Grant]

We have these games every year over here - often they are curtain raisers to the Super14 games.

Typically they involve anybody not in a matchday 22 less players injured (duh) any away on Sevens duty plus all the Academy players, whether professionals or amateur, plus ring-ins to make up the team.

The Junior Tahs teams have a lot of youngsters in their side including many amateurs who are recent schoolboys. Sometimes they match them against a team of hard heads from the Sydney comp and they invariably get their arses kicked.

But these games are crucial to the development of young players. It also makes clearer to the Tahs gurus which pro Academy guys should be promoted to Super rookie contracts the following year and which of the amateurs should go to the professional academy group.

It is a pity that the tyranny and expense of distance precludes WA from being involved in games with eastern teams.

It would be good if this could be configured into an ARC type comp but it's not going to happen. The demise of the ARC set Oz rugby back years and years. The 20 match local derby series in 2011 will redress the situation to some extent but we need a competition below the Super level so players can learn their trade, so the best ones can be assessed better for Super rugby, and for several other reasons including the development of referees and coaches..