Rep fixture boost for juniors United push for festival
TOWNSVILLE District Rugby Union has joined forces with its northern brethren to give the region’s rugby stars of the future more chance to play games at a representative level.
Along with the support of Far North Queensland Rugby, the TDRU will take part in the inaugural Festival of Rugby in September.
The two associations will play off in six divisions including under-13s, under-14s and under-16s in a home and away series, with the first games in Cairns on September 1.
The representative clashes will partner the series of home and away Country representative selection games in the senior men and under-19 colts.
TDRU will also take a senior women’s representative outfit to play their neighbouring rivals as part of the series.
The TDRU will host a return clash in Townsville a fortnight later. TDRU director of rugby Terry Shiells said he hoped the games could become a regular fixture on the calendar.
“If we are going to play rugby, we would like to play our nearest neighbour in as much rugby as possible,” he said. “We would like to (do it annually), but it depends on what the draw looks like for next year.
“The biggest problem is the cost to transport players. A bus to Cairns will cost $2000, and by the time you are taking five or six teams it will be at least three buses.
“It is a fairly big challenge but one we think is absolutely worth it for the kids. We want to give these kids as much opportunity as we can.”
The TDRU juniors have only recently returned from the Queensland Country Championships, while for their FNQ counterparts, the Festival of Rugby will be the only junior representative rugby they play.
FNQ Rugby president John Pirie spoke to the Townsville Bulletin about the excitement he felt about the announcement.
“We can finally offer junior players the chance to play representative rugby union,” Pirie said.
“The costs and travel to the southeast corner are prohibitive for our players, so we’ve been working on this for a few months.
“It comes straight after the end of the rugby league season so we’ll be able to attract players from there as well.”