Stacked school rugby teams hurting sport

Stacked first XV schoolboy rugby teams are contributing to decreasing playing numbers in New Zealand.

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) yesterday released the independent review of New Zealand secondary school rugby. The report was approved by the NZR Board at its December meeting and the implementation of the report’s raft of 31 recommendations will begin this month.

The review, which was commissioned in June last year to better understand the various factors affecting the New Zealand secondary school rugby environment, comes after 10 Auckland schools last month said they would not play St Kentigern in this year’s 1A competition due to their recruitment policy.

The report was damning of first XV rugby and the

recruitment practices of some schools. Several people surveyed wrote and spoke about how performance rugby programmes at certain schools impact negatively on their region or own their schools.

‘‘In general, they view the pooling of talent into a few strong rugby schools as a significant factor in the decrease of numbers playing the game because of flow on effects of, for example uneven competitions.’’

Many respondents in the consultation process believed there needed to be better balance between schools developing their own talent versus bringing in talented players from other schools, provinces and countries.

There was also agreement more should be done on basic skill development and the holistic development of young men to enable highly talented players to transition and stay in the sport.

‘‘They believe that a sense of selfentitlement is too prevalent in many of the talented young players that they are introduced to.’’ The report found the number of boys playing rugby in New Zealand at secondary school is trending downwards at an alarming rate, considering the overall secondary roll had steadily increased in recent years. In Auckland, the number of boys’ and girls’ secondary school teams fell from 225 in 2013, to 188 in 2017, and 181 in 2018.

The girls’ game in New Zealand on the other hand is experiencing strong growth in numbers, which is generating separate challenges around resourcing, coaching, and acceptance within schools.

Following a contestable process the review was led by EdSol NZ, an educational consultancy company, key recommendations include:

Establish an advisory group (New Zealand Secondary Schools Rugby Union) to develop vision, values and strategy for secondary school rugby

Fulltime NZR Manager of Secondary School Rugby appointed

Guidelines for both performance and nonperformance grades

Equitable resourcing of girls’ rugby in co-ed schools and adequate resourcing in schools where girls’ rugby is a "new" sport

Guidelines for provincial unions and schools on format and form of secondary school rugby grades for both boys and girls

‘‘There is widespread concern over the impacts of player recruitment into selected schools. Some of these consequences may be unintended,’’ it said.

‘‘The perceptions that players are being over-trained, have a sense of entitlement and are denied other sporting opportunities are widely expressed.

‘‘Pathway opportunities for talented school girl players are less evident than in the boys’ game.

‘‘Performance rugby programmes in schools need to consider the wellbeing and holistic development of all participants.

‘‘Parents are acknowledged as being positive contributors to rugby programmes in schools, but may not be aware of the wider impacts of choosing a school for rugby reasons."

More than 500 people participated in online surveys, 300 in focus groups, and those with an interest in secondary school rugby were involved in consultation meetings, including player agents and Super Rugby clubs.

There was an agreement across all stakeholders a clear single-focus governance structure for secondary school rugby was adopted. The current structure is ‘‘fragmented and confusing’’.

The report said the ‘‘lack of an overarching governance body’’ was a repeated message they received from stakeholders during the review.

It was also recommended NZR established a clear definition of which grades are considered performance grades, with all other grades recognised as existing primarily to maximise the appeal and benefit participants. NZR chief rugby officer Nigel Cass acknowledged the review formed part of NZR’s commitment to providing a world-leading school rugby system for all of its participants.