Rippa Rugby national competition in Wellington

Club Rugby | 04 September 2014 | NZRU & Club Rugby

Above: Dane Coles and the All Blacks playing Rippa Rugby on the Basin Reserve last year

Provincial pride will be on the line when 200 of the country's best Rippa Rugby players compete for the national title in Wellington next week.

The fourth annual Rippa Rugby Championship next Monday at Tuesday at Wakefield Park brings together 20 teams made up of year six boys and girls representing ITM Cup and Pink Batts Heartland Championship provinces.

This year two teams return for the fourth year in a row as champions of their province; Roscommon School representing Counties Manukau and Arrowtown School wearing Otago's colours. In 2013 Holy Cross School representing Auckland won the title.

Wellington is represented by Tairangi School (Porirua).

General Manager Community and Provincial Union Rugby, Brent Anderson said the Rippa Rugby Championship was an exciting opportunity for kids to represent not just their school, but also their province.

"Many players will be wearing their province's colours for the first time. It's a big deal and the kids take it very seriously. For some it will be their first time on a plane and their first visit to the capital. They will be representing their school as provincial union tournament winners with an enormous amount of pride. You never know, there may be future All Blacks and Black Ferns among the teams."

Mr Anderson said the tournament continued to grow with over 600 schools playing in competitions to find the teams to represent each province.

He said because teams are made up of both boys and girls, all schools could easily pull together a team. As a result smaller, rural schools would compete against larger schools.

Rippa Rugby is a safe, non-contact form of rugby aimed at primary school-aged children where instead of tackling, players rip velcro-fastened tags off each other's waists. The games are seven minutes each way.