Shifting the goalposts

Rugby bosses have changed the rules for secondary school players – to require everyone in teams below first XV level play at least half a game each week.

SPENDING 80 minutes shivering on the sidelines will be a thing of the past for young rugby players this winter – now, everybody is guaranteed a game.

New Zealand Rugby has changed the rules for secondary school players to require everyone in teams below first XV level to play at least half a game each week.

Brent Anderson, New Zealand Rugby general manager for community rugby and provincial unions, said the rules meant all reserves had to go on at halftime and stay on unless there were injuries. ‘‘We’ve talked to 1600 kids and one of the three big factors of what they don’t like and [why they] stop playing is no game time.’’

The rules apply to every grade that does not contain at least one school’s first XV. In Wellington, that means every- thing below the 4th grade.

‘‘We don’t want to put this on the first XVs,’’ Mr Anderson said. ‘‘It’s about that stage they are entering adulthood and things get a little more competitive and a little more serious.’’

The NZRU expected teams to ‘‘self-police’’ the substitions and had found that worked well 99 per cent of the time in Canterbury, where the policy was trialled last year.

Wellington principals were broadly in favour of the change. Wellington College headmaster Roger Moses said his coaches thought it was a good plan but could cause some problems.

‘‘It could actually work against the weaker teams who don’t have great skill in their squads. It might exarcerbate the gap between the good and the less good.’’

Whether the move would fit in with the competitive Kiwi ethos around rugby remained to be seen, he said.

St Patrick’s Silverstream rector Gerard Tully thought it would encourage teenagers to keep playing. ‘‘Any young guy plays rugby because he wants to get out on the field.’’

It would be unsuitable at an elite level, but down the grades and with younger players there was nothing wrong with supporting participation.

However, Porirua College principal Susanne Jungersen said the move was prescriptive and would affect coaches’ ability to pick the best team.

Poneke junior club convenor Sylvie Moe-Jenkins said she supported the concept, particularly in the lower grades.

Marist St Pat’s junior club convenor Martin Paget said his club did not see any problems. ‘‘In principle, these grades are about developing and growing young players, and you can’t do that for all the kids if you are favouring the better talent all the time.’’