Dwayne Russell, the union’s game development manager of players and coaches, said the tournament featured four even teams.
“To take the emotional attachment out of the equation, coaches are not allowed to coach their sons,” Russell said.
“This was tough for some, but the experience and the review were positive.
“We will continue this and work to improve it.”
Willoughby said it was also difficult to arrange rep games for the u13s as many other unions could field much bigger players.
He had noticed Poverty Bay were competitive in weight-for-age matches.
The union has split the local 13th grade into a weight grade and an open grade.
A similar philosophy has existed behind the Heartland u14 development tournament played in Taupo for the past two seasons.
Willoughby said teams sent from the various unions were split up with new mixed squads assigned to a coach.
Coaches were also supported through coach educators to develop their coaching skills.
“The final day consists of players going back to their original provincial team and coach to play a game.
'Games are played in very high spirits'“Games are played in very high spirits.”
Russell said the focus was on development, and was not outcome-based. The tournament also catered for coaches.
The aim of the tournament was to provide:
• An avenue for player skill development through participation in specific training activities.
• A unique experience for under-14 players from Heartland unions while surrounded by players of similar ability.
• An avenue for u14 representative coaches to develop themselves through participation in practical coaching activities and workshops in a controlled learning environment.
“What we have found is players genuinely make new friends and express themselves in a somewhat unstructured environment,’’ Russell said.
“They express themselves by using their vision and skills and making good decisions.”
The ideas for the format had come from some rugby stalwarts in Poverty Bay, King Country and Thames Valley.
Russell said he had earlier attended a New Zealand Rugby (NZR) game development conference where Auckland union delegates said they were considering new ideas, including the possibility of dropping junior rep teams.
It turned out that Poverty Bay was the only union that had already done so.
NZR also appears to support an approach that favours participation over representative competition for junior players.
A letter to the country’s rugby administrators, written by head of participation and development Steve Lancaster, made it clear that NZR believed rep rugby at a junior level was potentially counterproductive.
“We do not see value in representative programmes at under-14 and below in relation to both identifying those players likely to go on to the elite level and encouraging the largest pool of players who may have the ability to play at the elite level to stay in the game,” Lancaster wrote.
Willoughby said Poverty Bay supported North Harbour’s decision and the NZR position.
Along with other Heartland provincial unions, Poverty Bay had realised “a couple of years ago” that development and participation at this age was far more important than competition at a representative level.
