NSW Rugby and the NSW Waratahs are committed to developing young players to achieve their best potential. A critical component of this is to ensure that the player pathway gives players from both clubs and schools the opportunity to progress to higher levels, no matter where they play from the bush to the beach.

We would like to acknowledge the outstanding work and collaboration across NSW Juniors and NSW Schools in working together with NSW Rugby to make a number of positive changes to the NSW U18s pathway for 2020. We are looking forward to working with clubs, schools, players, coaches, managers and parents throughout the 2020 season.

‍For further detail please see the below information from NSW Schools & NSW Juniors or click here

NSW Rugby Pathways 2020

In conjunction with NSW Schools and NSW Rugby, NSW Juniors is pleased to advise the following information regarding the representative pathways for Schools and Juniors (Opens and U16) for 2020.

 OPENS:

Trials will be conducted between School Associations and Sydney Juniors and NSW Country. These trials will culminate in an Open trial Day on Friday 26 June.

From these trials, five NSW teams will be selected as follows

o   2x NSW Gen Blue teams (from any trial participant)

o   2x NSWSRU teams (from students attending schools only)

o   1x NSW Juniors team (from any trial participant)

All participants are expected to attend the trial day on the 26th June to be considered for selection in these teams – players injured in trial games prior to the 26th June and who live in the Greater Sydney area are expected to attend a medical at the trial venue in order for a decision on availability for the selected teams. Students not in the greater area and in consideration for selection will be contacted by NSW Rugby with the NSW medical staff informing the selectors of any decisions re availability.

The below roadmap shows the pathways available for any trial participant

The NSW Rugby planner shows all the dates for the trials. These can also be found here

NSW School students, who have multiple team pathways, need to discuss with their associations which teams and what options that they are available to be selected in to trial

NB: All teams trialling will have equal opportunity to showcase player talents and skills and be selected in the teams listed.

The NSW Gen Blue teams will play games against other State Academy teams on July 1 In Brisbane.

The NSW Schools teams and the NSW Junior Presidents team will compete in the Australian Schools Championships to be held at St Ignatius College between the 4 to 9 July. Teams to play Tonga in Queensland will be selected from these Championships and they will represent Australian Schools Barbarians and Australian Schools Presidents XV.

The NSW Gen Blue Academy teams will be re selected at the conclusion of the GPS, CAS and ISA competitions and these teams will play Queensland Academy teams at the end of term 3. The Australian Schools and RA U18 side and the “A” side will be selected to play Fiji and NZ Schools in October in Sydney.

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U16’s:

The U16 pathway remains the same with the memorandum of understanding between NSW Schools, Juniors and Country in place and teams will be announced after the NSW Schools trials and Championships to be held on June 27 and 28.

These teams will be involved in the NSW Invitational,involving two NSW Schools teams, a Sydney Juniors team and a NSW Country team,to be held on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 July. From this competition two NSWRU U16 teams will be selected to compete in the Australian U16 Championships to beheld in October.