Rugby: Steamers freed for club finals

Under the new club format, Bay of Plenty players like Joe Royal will be eligible to play in the finals series next season. Photo/File.

A pioneering set of meetings during the past three months between Bay of Plenty rugby clubs and union officials has resulted in a new format for the 2014 club season.

The season will start on March 29 with the final on July 26. The key outcome is the Steamers' squad members will be available to play through the semifinal and final series, which will give the competition its strongest-ever representation of the area's best players.

To achieve this, clubs agreed to playing two double-header weekends, which could be over the Queen's Birthday and Easter weekends.

Two new competitions were also ratified by the Bay of Plenty Rugby board.

A new Premier Development competition will be introduced in 2014 which is aimed at providing a better pathway for young players into Premier rugby, with the emphasis firmly on younger, not older senior, players.

It will be compulsory for all Premier clubs to field a premier development side and the two sides will play at the same venue.

An under-19 competition will provide a pathway for school leavers aged between 15-18 who are too young for under-21 colts and otherwise may have been lost to the game. It will be a short six-week competition window between March 29 and May 3.

The moves are a positive reflection of what the clubs and union are trying to achieve together.

Clearly it is impossible to keep 40 clubs happy but these measures should go a long way to achieving that and keeping more teenagers in the game.

"We have engaged with the clubs to understand what we can do to improve the club competition across all levels," said BOPRU chief executive Mike Rogers.

"We felt from a Steamers point of view the relationship needed to be strong with our clubs because we want to try and get more of our club players playing for the Steamers. So we need a good platform and have tried to provide formats that meet the needs of all the different expectations of stakeholder clubs and in the best interest of BOP Rugby.

"The whole basis of the decision on formats was to provide the best formats to have strong, healthy clubs and to try and attract and encourage players and coaches into senior club rugby."

Rogers said the forums they held with the clubs were among the best they have had.

"We got really good feedback from the Premier clubs saying we were listening and engaging with them. They said they wanted Steamers players involved right the way through.

"It worked out to be 18 weeks before the Steamers had three weeks to prepare for the ITM Cup instead of 20 this year so there will be two double weekends or as some clubs have lights they may agree to play a midweek match. The finer details have yet to be finalised but we want to be innovative and flexible."