Rugby News

The end of term has brought about settled squads for the upcoming season. All of our boys’ teams have now been named, and even better, all have coaches!

The 1sts and 2nds have been selected after a couple of internal trials. The 1sts will play in the Highlanders competition once again, and the 2nds will continue in the Colts grade (Under 17). We have made a change to the structure of our junior rugby. We will now be having two Under 15 teams, playing in both divisions of the U15 competition. The Blues will play in Div 1 and the Reds in Div 2/Junior Colts. This was brought about due to the large numbers of players that required dispensations to play U14 rugby (the limit is 3 per team). We will retain one U14 team, made up primarily of Year 9 boys, who will play in the U14 competition.

We have also had a large number of girls’ registrations and the teams will be sorted in the first week of next team. We are aiming to maintain two teams in the Southland Schoolgirls competition, where we are current title-holders.

We held a successful meeting of the SOHS Rugby Club earlier this week. There were many familiar faces and the main challenge this year is to introduce new parents to the system. Details of the meeting, including subs for 2010, will be provided in a later newsletter.
Training for squads over the holiday period will be at the discretion of coaches. At this stage, we only have two confirmed pre-season fixtures for the break. Both the U14s and 1sts will play their respective Taieri College counterparts on Saturday, April 17 at PJ Park in Mosgiel. The U14s will kick-off at 11am, followed by the 1sts at 1pm. Other matches may be organised by coaches, who will in turn advise players. Easter has been left clear.

Saturday, April 24 is the first day of competition rugby for the 2010 season. It is expected that all players will have the appropriate gear by this date, including a mouthguard. All teams will play through each Saturday in term 2, with the exception of Queen’s Birthday Saturday. Competition rugby then stops for a fortnight over the holidays, before resuming again for 4 weeks in Term 3. At this stage, Saturday August 14 has been set down as finals day in all grades. This allows for a 14-week competition window, as well as the interschool against Gore in June which will involve most players.

In future newsletters I will list all matches and travel arrangements, as well as giving a list of coaches and contact details. It will be the responsibility of the player to advise the coach if he is unavailable for practice or matches.
Greg Heller (TIC Rugby)