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Professional rugby has been a sport for young men in Australia for some time, but there has been a trend toward younger age groups across European competitions in recent years due to the success of academy-focused programs. The English Premier League is the latest party to come, with many players who have recently graduated from the U20s taking on important roles at their clubs, and it is likely that a few years from now they will still be in the development league. Perhaps there is an element of financial pressure forcing the Prem team to look inward. But the performance quality of this young Tyro is pushing that narrative to the side.
Returning to focus, Australia is not a trendsetter in this respect for the right reasons. Because it seems like they’re nurturing young talent to fight against different codes rather than having them ready to step up. consolation. Unfortunately, this may be a necessary evil given that our development player wages are not attractive compared to competing codes. Financial imbalances mean we need to be better at identifying and investing in promising wallabies at a younger age. That would allow them to retain Joe Walsh, who is closer to rugby than league but still tempting.
This approach leads many people astray in the belief that late teens are too early to make sound decisions about a player’s prospects. Additionally, there is a perception that there is little convenience for late bloomers in a system that focuses on early investment. But it seems to me that the French, the Irish and now the English have a pretty good idea of ​​who the next senior international will be by the time they graduate from their U20 programs, without any noticeable loss or otherwise, to their liking. I’m saying this without spoiling the pooch in rugby league.
So while in Australia you often see 18-20 year olds playing Super Rugby, the difference in Europe is that academy programs are producing 19-20 year olds who are seemingly better physically prepared to advance to the top competition, and the season The point is that it can be long. This is a more gradual introduction to help with adaptation. While the best academy prospects typically progress straight from school to professional development leagues, it undoubtedly benefits that our prospects play primarily for amateur local clubs prior to Super Rugby.
The good news is that much work has been done by Rugby Australia in recent years to address this issue through the introduction of U16 and U19 competitions and the U20 Rugby Championship. This is a fantastic initiative that will allow us to better chart pathways for passionate professional players than ever before and give super teams the opportunity to better stress test their player pipeline.
But the work is far from done, so as financial freedom approaches thanks to the impending Lions tour, here are a few things Rugby Australia hopes to allocate its resources for in 2025/26.
U16 International
Rugby has always prided itself on being an international game and in this context the U16s allow us to throw out first balls to our very popular dual code players. At this age playing Trans-Tasman is a no-brainer, but I would like to go one step further and approach South Africa as well to see if organizing an U16 Tri Nations would be possible. There is a lot of interest in junior rugby in SA, so if New Zealand and Australian teams are up front and play the likes of Gray College or Paarl, the interest from broadcasters or spectators could help the traveling team break even. Probably not, but it’s worth exploring.
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U18 UK Tour
For those who don’t know, a few years ago Rugby Australia decided to implement their own U18 program rather than continuing with the Australian Schools Association run team. A positive by-product of this portrayal is that there are now two teams playing at a high level, a nice little step forward for some of the better U17 players to potentially graduate to U18s after being selected for the school team for a year. It seems like there is. team the following year.
One of the Australian Schoolboys’ biggest plans for the past few years has been a year-end UK tour. Longer tours at that age build that all-important rugby jargon “bond”, so getting U18s back on these tours would be good business and I could see their home countries coming to the party to help with some of the costs. Very similar to the recent Aus A tour.
Australia lines out during a match between Australia U18s and New Zealand schools. (Photo credit: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
Expanded U19 competition
As mentioned earlier, these competitions are a fantastic way for super programs to check the health of their player pipeline. It is hoped that there is room left in the calendar to extend home and away series and U19 competitions to coincide with Super AU, which will most likely take place in 2025 after the regional club competitions have concluded. Given that this will be the first real football season of any decent length for these boys, care will need to be taken to ensure they do not play too many minutes or miss out on valuable physical development pre-season.
U20 season
This gets a little tricky because of the costs associated with keeping this team together outside of camps/tournaments. It would be incredibly valuable for the team to play, not to mention that these young guys likely have jobs to go and bills to pay. More matches are held each year leading up to the U20 Rugby Championship and Junior World Cup. England U20s recently announced that they will play Cambridge and Bath feeders in the defense of their Six Nations title. If the World Cup is held this year, there will have been close to 10 high-level matches prior to the World Cup. – That’s double the number of prep games our players are currently receiving.
Australia’s Lachlan Hooper in action during a match between New Zealand U20s and Junior Wallabies. (Photo credit: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
Our Aus counterparts will be based in Sydney for most of the first half of the year and will be able to play high-quality preparation matches against Shute Shield teams in February/March, as well as games against the Tahs or Brumbies A teams later on. . Mid-World Cup. Despite good representation from each Super program, the majority of the squad has roots in NSW, so it could be a good idea to bring back the good old-fashioned billeting system or ask boarding schools to house the rest of the squad. Find out.
Green shots have been in short supply over the past few decades, so when our teams get deep into these tournaments, our fan base gets involved. Age-group success can go a long way to ensuring the next generation has a winning mindset for future Wallabies teams, so let’s not find ourselves short-handed on the front end.
gentleman’s agreement
The reason I think Super AU is most likely to feature in the second half of the year is because Rugby Victoria recently released a pathway document documenting senior Rebels teams playing over the same period as the U16s and U19s in 2025.
It is highly unlikely, then, that the Rebels can field a team capable of competing with any Super Rugby program outside of their respective Wallabies. So unless Rugby Australia strengthens the Rebels through player relocation, some will be needed. It’s a gentleman’s agreement of sorts to use the Rebels fixtures as an opportunity for blood squad members along with healthy clubland stock.
This kills two birds with one stone as more club players across the country are exposed to higher levels of rugby and the best Victorian players don’t have to play so far away from a level that they can’t progress. Through experience or through appropriate demonstration of potential for higher honors.
Rugby Australia’s high-performance component, led by Peter Horne, has made a lot of good noise in improving our route despite having very little money to its name., I was still able to progress the story to some extent.
As organizations have cleaner balance sheets, the work they do will benefit the long-term health of the code.
