Saru to celebrate female youth

JOHANNESBURG: The South African Rugby Union (Saru) will celebrate Women’s Day this weekend by demonstrating its passion for rugby with two special tournaments featuring Under-16 and Under-18 female players, sponsored by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

Teams from six Saru-run Women’s Youth Rugby Training Centres from across the country will compete in north and south sections, with three Under-16 and three Under-18 teams participating in each tournament.

“We developed the Youth Training Centres earlier this year to grow and develop rugby among young girls, and it is fantastic that they are able to celebrate Women’s Day by enjoying the sport we all share a deep passion for,” said Saru chief executive Jurie Roux.

“Saru would also like to take this opportunity to wish all our South African women a happy Women’s Day on Sunday.”

The matches will be held on, Saturday and Monday, with the teams playing in two roundrobin matches each on the opening day, while the two top teams in each section will contest the final on Monday.

The North Section, which features the Limpopo Blue Bulls, Blue Bulls and Western Province will be hosted at Hoërskool Warmbad in BelaBela, and the South Section featuring Border, Eastern Province and KwaZulu-Natal will be held at Hoërskool Grens in East London.

Talent scouts will be present to select an elite squad that will be invited to a training camp in October, where the players will be introduced to Saru’s High Performance structures.

These players will also be exposed to distant coaching, and will get access to gyms and training programmes of the Youth Centre coaches. – ANA