MASSIVE MARKDOWNS

Rugby Southland has followed New Zealand Rugby’s advice and axed all its representative teams from the under-14 agegroup down.

The North Harbour Rugby Union created national headlines last month when it announced it would not field a representative under-14 side this season.

At the same time Rugby Southland and other South Island provincial unions were looking at implementing the same approach, which was initially flagged with the rugby community last year.

Southland has traditionally fielded under-14, under-13, under-65kg, under48kg and under-38kg representative teams in the past but those teams have now all been canned.

Rugby Southland chief executive Brian Hopley said the advice they received from New Zealand Rugby and other parties indicated that selecting junior representative teams was counter-productive when trying to keep children playing sport.

An email from Rugby Southland to

‘‘ . . . kids at that younger age, they just want to play ...’’

stakeholders confirming the decision said; ‘‘often the kids who miss out on junior sport rep teams are left with the belief that as they didn’t get selected, they have no talent – and therefore no future in sport.’’

New Zealand Rugby has identified the under-17 grade as the right starting point for rugby specialisation. New Zealand Rugby officials also believe potential elite players benefited from playing multiple sports at a young age.

Hopley agreed the talent identification process in the age-groups below under-17 could be false.

‘‘A kid might stand out in the under-12 or under-13 age-group because they have matured earlier than others,’’ he said.

Rugby Southland was now working through developing a new model to