Rugby: What the end of season brings for top NZ schoolboys

Fletcher Anderson of Christ's College charges forward during the UC Championship First XV match between Christ's College and Christchurch Boys' High School. Photo / Getty Images.

For New Zealand's top high school rugby players, the end of their 2020 season will look a lot different to years gone by.

Traditionally, a New Zealand Schools and Barbarians squad is selected from the best schoolboys around the country, and they play against the likes of the Australian and Fijian schoolboy sides in a series, to introduce players to a test match environment for the first time.

Unfortunately, as a result of covid-19, the landscape for this year's players has been altered substantially and there are no games against international opposition.

Instead, the best 50 players will earn the reward of playing against each other by way of a national camp in Hamilton during the second week of the upcoming school holidays from the 6th to the 10th of October.

"We just want to try and pick the eyes out of the best 50 players that we could," said New Zealand Rugby High Performance Player Development Manager Matt Sexton.

"There is going to be a game between two sides, but they'll be named as the Barbarians and will have a couple of icons as the names of the two teams, which will be evenly matched and play off against each other. We use that week to use it as a performance week.

"In the past we've had the opportunity to have a New Zealand Schools and Barbarians campaign which goes up against Australia and Fiji, but just due to funding we've had to really scale back what that looks like, but we think what we've got in place in terms of a week in the life of and preparing for a high level game with a good review and getting alongside some of New Zealand's best coaches is pretty exciting for the boys."

NZR have had to think laterally in a bid to make a national camp a reality and Sexton says while it's a shame to not have international games like previous years, developing these promising players is always the main focus as they strive to go on to bigger things.

St Kents team huddle. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

To assist with that, the two teams will be mentored by a couple of the best in the business, with last year's New Zealand Schools and current Highlanders assistant coach Mark Hammett and Blues assistant coach Tom Coventry both involved.

"They're going to be leading one of the teams themselves, so that's quite cool. Mark Hammett did a great job last year with the programme and this year we've got Tom to lead one of the groups too, so two experienced and capable coaches to lead the programme and get alongside not only players but management and impart their knowledge."

On the field, players have had to contend with a delayed start to their season and ongoing disruption due to covid-19 which can make for worrying times especially for those in their final year of schooling who are hoping to catch the eyes of provincial unions or Super Rugby clubs. Despite the difficult season, Sexton's adamant opportunities will come to those who deserve them.

"Probably more than ever we've had our selection network out looking around all the schoolboy rugby that's been happening.

"That three months or so of no rugby has made everyone massively keen to get out and so when the games have been on we've generally had people and footage of games and they've been uploaded and reviewed and I think we can hand on heart say we'll be able to make informed decisions on the players we'll pick, so that's a good opportunity for them.

"The door's never closed, it's a pretty early stage in someone's career and hopefully we'll have some in 2021 if they don't make the NZ Schools top 50 there will be opportunities in other programmes too for guys to get noticed and get entry points into a high performance environment, but there will be lots of people around that week and game."

Before the national camp takes place there will be under-18 regional camps held within the Super Rugby regions in the first week of the school holidays which will see a total of 250 schoolboys attend across the five regions.

As a result of a revised schedule, NZR has created new opportunities for those excelling in the schoolgirl game too as they try to find the next crop of future Black Ferns.

"The good thing this year which is an enhancement on what's been before is we're adding some top tier female players this year which is a good addition to that pathway in the women's game.

"With the help of the selection network and the Black Ferns coaches and our high performance managers in the provincial unions we've identified some high potential players to bring along to those camps to get some learning as well, so it's pretty cool."

As well as tapping into the development of the women's game, the camps will make sure promising sevens players aren't forgotten about too.

"They've obviously had similar sorts of challenges with programmes and bits and pieces and funding cuts and a whole lot of things so we've got a sevens strand as well and it's really about talking about the pathway and that men's and women's have got opportunities in both the 15s and sevens spaces. Who's to say your pathway has to be a linear one. We have players that jump around between the two different codes and depending on when the event is they might pop into sevens and then return to 15s. We're trying to do the same here and show players there's a genuine pathway in both codes with exciting opportunities."