RA's new pathway model

[Up the Guts]

I don't want to make this about Chrichton, but the article you reference states that the Tahs couldn't offer him a full time contract,but he was offered a f/t 7's contract.
You're right that we can't compete with !eague for those that are ready to go straight away, and having them in a program from 15 or 16 won't change that.
That's why I advocate spending the ARU money on those that aren't in good school programs.
It's a waste of resources for RA to duplicate what 90% of their squad already experience in their School programs.

I agree that it’s not going to develop the players a hell of a lot further than there school programmes might but if it strengthens the pathway for them to get into professional rugby (or they at least perceive it as strengthening it) then there’s a greater chance we keep these guys in Union.

 

[I like to watch]

I'm a pragmatist.
The Tahs can still invite rockstars from schoolboy rep teams to training sessions and in the sheds after games without a program.

We consistently lose kids that are in these programs whenever league teams offer six figure contracts to school kids,and we will always lose these kids whilst we can't compete with these offers.
Changing org charts and changing titles won't stop kids from taking considerable sums from the other code, so let's try and build the depth of 18yo's,by being more inclusive of promising 15yo from "disadvantaged Rugby backgrounds"

I've done the midweek shuttles from School to Paddington,and the guys running the program were great fellas and very professional.
however,the koala club moniker was well deserved,and their influence in schoolboy selections were more of a hindrance than a help IMO,in terms of selecting the best performed players in the actual rep trials.
Continuing the current practice is simply a waste of resources.

 

[dru]

It's about talent ID, for sure. Just because this particular media release is about that it doesn't mean they are doing nothing to expand the game.

Can someone who actually has some involvement with juniors/schoolboys tell us what this actually means?

Does this give us more junior rep squads, or less? Does it narrow the pathway, or expand it?

From reading that release I can't really work out what is new, and what is not.

Someone tell me what to think before Alan Jones does.
.

^this

[Though I'd like to hear what specifically they are doing to expand the game as well.]

 

[Harv]

The ones at the top that you should be aiming at are the ones at the very top. World Rugby, in other words. Wayne Smith hits the nail right on the head in an article in The Weekend Oz. Worth a read.



Yes, there is more that RA could do. But the game is unpopular here compared to others for a huge number of reasons, and, as I have pointed out many times, the majority of those are totally outside the sphere of influence of RA. Like them or loathe them, even if they were twice as effective as they are, we would still be heading downwards.


World Rugby, on the other hand, could do a lot to help the game here, and, by extension, in other markets where it is under pressure.

It's not out of RA hands. The governing body and the culture that has not only propped up, but fed (continues to feed) an elitist mindset is why we're in this mess. It matters now more than ever that over the last forty years the game has had multiple chances to be more inclusive; to build a grassroots that valued the great tradition of private school rugby while expanding the base by including junior clubs and different development pathways. They not only failed to do this, they actively worked against it. Forget the need to improve the Wallabies. Forget Super Rugby -- you want people who don't go to prep schools or get poached by private schools, playing the game. Otherwise there will be no more talent to spot and retain, or, as we see increasingly, the talent that will be filling spots in the senior ranks will be from offshore (and thank God for them, otherwise the game would have been toast ten years ago). In a sense, it is too late -- the game seems to be collapsing in OZ -- but where I live, for example (in the US), rugby is kicking on pretty impressively. And it's not because the national team is much chop (although they are looking more competitive than ever), it's because more people of varied backgrounds are playing the game to the extent that it's arguably the fastest growing team sport in the country. THAT is success.
This well-intentioned, and no doubt constructive statement about changing the pathways got my goat is because --as described elsewhere--it's moving the deckchairs on the Titanic unless measures to expand the game are taken first. Best I can see, about the only thing stakeholders in the game did for the junior ranks in the last year was to introduce 'meaningful' trial games in NSW between GPS, CAS and a few ISA teams. Thing is, that's been going on in one form or another for fifty years. How does that take the game to the people we need to play the sport (in the bush, in government school, via suburban junior clubs) in order for it to survive?

 

[Rugrat]

Ok so we have a policy or plan for elite pathways, this is a high performance based policy and that's fine even if it lacks reported detail. Yes we need that I guess, even if it is piggy backing off a school based level of excellence already in place. I would like to see from the ARU a clear policy and plan for Rugby participation for youth rugby. Particularly under 12 to under 17. The ARU must in partnership with the state unions have a centralized plan. We love talking centralization to save super rugby and the wallabies but if the ARU is convinced that is the way for senior pro rugby does the same argument stand for youth participation. The age old argument that the wallabies need to be winning for the game to grow doesn't hold much value if, and its a big if, the wallabies do win how will the game cope at a club level to support increased interest in the game at a youth level. I know it sounds like spin but can we focus some of the marketing of the wallabies on having kids set goals like playing first grade at their club rather than just dreaming of playing for the wallabies. Can we not promote the values of the game to families. How can we keep kids involved in the sport? Depth in all sports builds a larger base for your high performance units to draw from. Policy around high performance is fine but it needs to be presented as part of a major policy of youth participation.

 

[Garry Owens]

https://www.collegesportmedia.co.nz/rugby-union/rugby-in-new-zealand-becoming-private-school-game

Figured here was as good a place as any

 

[Harv]

https://www.collegesportmedia.co.nz/rugby-union/rugby-in-new-zealand-becoming-private-school-game

Figured here was as good a place as any

And their overall school particpation numbers are dropping by double digits. Ten years down the track ABs might start feeling feeling the pinch.

 

[Joe King]

It seems like the main goal of community rugby should be to get as many people participating in some form of rugby as possible.

Is the main goal of the high performance arm of the game, to develop players to be the best players they can be? I'm just wondering, if we had the goal to be know as the country that develops the best rugby players in the world, what would need to change to achieve this? What would be the best structures from the juniors up? What structures would need to be reformed that currently hinder achieving this goal?

If we could get everyone on the same page with this goal, I imagine it would go a long way to helping retain our professional players, because they would know that they will become the best players that they can be by staying within our system. It would also be the key to achieving a number of other goals and aspirations, I imagine.

 

[terry from Townsville]

RA can do whatever it wants in all this smoke and mirror pathway shit but the game is broken here on nearly every level. There is no realistic hope for improvement until a couple of earth shaking things happen. the game here is lost and needs its identity rediscovered and then its values reset which then flow through every level . And it has to start from the bottom up like it did when Australian Rugby was at its greatest and won World cups . so pathways is a big part of this long term solution but the problem is like what the talk on this thread has been . lots of talk about where the next folau is or a couple of superstars are needed at the Tahs . whatever

the opportunity for the game here is to own substance and values in the collective like how its done on the other side of the ditch

so long as rugby here keeps prioritising and promoting individuals and shaping glib pathways around this idea rugby will continue to die here with Australia continuing to be middle of the road in world rankings

 

[Wilson]

Murray Mexted is starting up and NFL style player combine to identify NZ talent that has fallen through the cracks:

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-future-of-rugby-scouting-new-zealands-first-nfl-style-pro-combine

Would love to see RA explore something similar, might be a really good opportunity to get back some players who have drifted away from the game after school and to hopefully poach some fringe NRL and AFL with the athletic ability to succeed in rugby. Could also be of particular benefit to the sevens squads.