Stars of the future on display

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RUGBY

Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chief executive Josh Willoughby is looking forward to seeing a great exhibition of fast and exciting rugby this weekend.

“About 100 young rugby players will be running around The Oval tomorrow and Sunday in the McDonald’s under-13 restricted under-56-kilogram tournament,” he said.

“The tournament has been a regular fixture on the annual playing calendar for the better part of two decades,” Willoughby said.

“This tournament is one of the big events on our annual playing calendar. The future of our game lies at the grassroots level and we’re excited to give our boys and girls the opportunity to play in a tournament format.”

The two-day tournament starts tomorrow with the weigh-in at 8.30am at the High School Old Boys clubrooms.

Tournament format —

• Teams are named after rivers, such as Taruheru and Waimata.

• All players are registered and mixed into teams.

• Coaches are assigned a team.

• Coaches will be part of a coach education programme over the two days, co-ordinated by coach educators Dwayne Russell and Henry Lamont.

• Players and coaches receive separate briefings.

• Round-robin format — example of four teams used.

• Semifinal and final played on Sunday.

• Prize-giving includes the naming of the:

Best player for each team

Best overall forward

Best overall back

Team runner-up

Tournament champion team

Player of the tournament

Tournament team