A new Baywide rugby series aims to get more players and coaches involved in representative rugby.
This week the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union announced the introduction of a Baywide Pro 4 series comprising four teams, Bay of Plenty Samoa, Te Waiariki, Western Bay of Plenty and Eastern Bay of Plenty.
The Central Bay of Plenty had committed to the Stan Meads Cup this year so will not be involved but their players will still be considered for the apprenticeship places.
Teams will play three weeks of round robin fixtures, with finals on September 2 at Eastern Districts Rugby Football Club in Paengaroa.
It is expected the series will assist with revival and subsequently growth of sub-union rugby.
In addition to increased involvement in representative rugby the series will further help with the development of Bay of Plenty's high performance rugby players and provide them with the opportunity to be selected for the Steamers' high performance environment.
One of the goals is to improve the connection between the Steamers squad and players who are either on the fringe or demonstrate potential.
Up until now the Bay of Plenty development team has been regarded as the best way to promote players into the Steamers.
However, when reviewing the success of promoting players to the Steamers on a consistent basis, the union felt having a wider catchment of players involved would be a better pathway along with new apprenticeship contracts.
Bay of Plenty director of rugby and Bay of Plenty Steamers head coach Clayton McMillan said players involved in the series could be selected into an apprenticeship programme, immersing them in a semi-professional environment.
"We will be selecting players from the series to come into an apprenticeship programme, where they will be contracted to train and be part of the Steamers squad environment.
"This provides us, as coaches, an opportunity to work with those players more, get to see how they tick and most importantly the players get to see what a semi-professional environment is like and whether they are willing to do the hard yards to be part of it full time.
"We know sub-union rugby has a rich history and if the series is successful we would like to get all sub unions involved next year and have the Te Hurunui Apanui Shield up for grabs," McMillan said.
Selection of teams will be determined by the players' eligibility, if a player is eligible for more than one team, it has been agreed the player will choose what team he will play for in the series.
