It’s a whole new ball game for club rugby
The Manawatu¯ Club Rugby Executive have agreed to a series of changes in senior club rugby structures, including the end of the annual Easter double-header round.
The committee met on Monday night to discuss the changes, which will see the season extend one week longer, kicking off on March 17 and running until July 28. There will no longer be a round of matches on Easter Monday.
Despite the season encroaching closer on the Manawatu¯ Turbos’ campaign, Manawatu¯ Rugby Union community rugby manager Ben Koch said the Turbos coaches had given the changes their blessing and would ensure Turbos players would be available for the finals.
Other major changes include the closer mirroring of draws in the senior one and two competitions and the commitment to July 28 as finals day for all senior grades.
Senior one will have nine teams - Feilding Old Boys-o¯ roua, Feilding, Old Boys-marist, College Old Boys, Freyberg, Te Kawau, Linton Army, Varsity and Kia Toa - while senior two will have 10 teams with Dannevirke, Bulls and Bush joining that group and Te Kawau and Linton dropping from senior two to senior reserve.
Due to the differing teams, a completely mirrored draw was not possible. But senior two matches against Dannevirke, Bulls and Bush will fall on weeks the senior one sides are playing Te Kawau, Linton or on byes.
Many clubs fill their senior one bench with players who played in the earlier senior two match, so having both teams at the same venues will be a major positive, especially for the smaller clubs.
And the union was already seeing some positive spin-offs from the move, with clubs considering
the possibility of running smaller squads, but more teams.
‘‘The enquiries around running a senior third team as a result of this mirroring has been quite significant,’’ Koch said.
The dates for the senior reserves competition will only be set once they have a better idea of how many teams will enter, but Koch said the draw would be formulated working backwards from the finals day.
Koch said the union wanted to be flexible with the scheduling of games.
‘‘We are really encouraging clubs to explore the opportunities of the odd night game throughout the season. We think there are some real benefits to clubs hosting some night game throughout the season.
‘‘I think we are in the environment where players’ and volunteers’ time is very precious to them and if we can play on Friday after work which frees up an entire weekend for families.’’
A trial of evening rugby will be rolled out in the preseason of the colts competition.
Koch said the pre-season competition would run on Friday nights and would potentially involve teams playing two 40-minute matches each round.
‘‘If teams identify that [Friday night colts rugby] is a real winner, we are quite happy to explore continuing that, rather than being fixated on having traditional Saturday rugby,’’ Koch said.
Meanwhile, the union has also formalised its club player referee policy that sees senior teams with players on bye weeks required to provide a group to officiate secondary schools matches.
The union rolled out the initiative earlier this year.