Plenty of Hurricanes region age-group rugby coming up

Above: Wellington's Henry Stowers makes his presence felt in last year's Hurricanes Youth Council U18 final in Palmerston North against Hawke's Bay.? Stowers, Chase Tiatia and Sam McNicol all played in this game and are now in the Wellington Lions ITM Cup squad.

Age-group representative rugby in the Hurricanes Region has taken another big step forward in 2014, with five major events planned for players from the Under 15 to the Under 19 age groups, during September and October.

New Zealand Rugby's introduction of the National U19 Tournament in October in Taupo has created two new events for this age-group, with a new Seeding Tournament being played for the region's ITM Cup Provincial Unions on a home and away basis and a new Development Series being played for the region's Heartland Provincial Unions, in Palmerston North.

The 2014 season commences with the popular Hurricanes U15 Tournament for secondary school teams, which will be played at St. Patrick's College, Silverstream during Winter Tournament Week and concludes with the Hurricanes U16 Tournament, which this year will be played in Napier, hosted by Hawke's Bay Rugby.

In keeping with its commitment of creating development opportunities for aspiring teenage players, the Hurricanes Youth Council has maintained its U18 Competition in 2014, to provide a representative rugby opportunity for those who leaving (or who have recently left) secondary school.

A feature of the 2014 season will be the visit of the East Coast U18 Team to Wellington during Test Match week, where they will receive coaching from the Hurricanes and be hosted by the Centurions RFC, as part of playing their Round 1 U18 Competition fixture.

Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council Chairman, Gordon Noble-Campbell explained the pathways available for aspiring players were healthy and this was a great chance for them to taste representative rugby for their provinces.

"The Hurricanes Youth Council creates the opportunities for many of our region's talented young players to have their first experience of playing for their Province. ?We hope that the provincial pride they experience will carry them on to achieving higher representative honours, at a Hurricanes or All Blacks level."

The Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council comprises the nine Provincial Unions in the traditional Hurricanes region. The Council's Executive Board comprises 19 members and works closely with all New Zealand Community Rugby, the Hurricanes franchise and the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rugby Council.

Following is a brief description of all events to occur over coming weeks.

U15 - Secondary School Tournament

31/08/14 to 04/09/14

St. Patrick's College, Silverstream

16 teams, representing Colleges from Auckland, Manawatu, Poverty Bay, Taranaki, Wanganui and Wellington.

U16 - Provincial Union Tournament

20/09/14 to 02/10/14

Park Island, Napier

10 teams, representing East Coast, Hawkes Bay, Horowhenua-Kapiti, Manawatu, Poverty Bay, Taranaki, Wairarapa-Bush, Wanganui and Wellington.

U18 - Provincial Union Tournament

13/09/14 to 27/09/14

Hurricanes Region - Home & Away

6 teams, representing East Coast, Hawkes Bay, Poverty Bay, Wairarapa‑Bush and Wellington.

U19 - ITM Cup Provincial Union Seeding Tournament

06/09/14 to 20/09/14

Hurricanes Region - Home & Away

4 teams, representing Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Taranaki and Wellington

Heartland Provincial Union Development Series

06/09/14 to 20/09/14

Sport & Rugby Institute, Palmerston North

4 teams, representing East Coast-Poverty Bay (Combined), Horowhenua?Kapiti, Wanganui, Wairarapa-Bush

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We will look to publish a more detailed scheduled of representative fixtures coming up involving all Wellington teams in the next week or so.

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