The 2022 season was in many ways a return to the old days as we managed to have our first full Representative season since 2019. With the Covid-19 lockdowns behind us we rebounded with much vigour to have what was our biggest ever NSWJRU State Championships on record. Add to that some new additions to our pathways and I can definitely say season 2022 was one of the best years we can remember.

Our signature event is the NSWJRU State Championships and again in season 2022 we were wonderfully supported by The Rugby Club Foundation. Their extreme generosity meant that every team entered (from NSW and beyond) had their entry fee covered by The Rugby Club Foundation. And to make sure that our Champs were safe and well officiated they also covered the First Aid and referee costs of the Champs as well. A fabulous commitment to the junior game and we thank them.

We also welcomed back our naming rights sponsors in 2022 and thus the official names of the Positive Rugby Foundation NSW Junior State Championships and the Rugby 1st NSWJRU Girls State Championships.

Our 2022 State Champs saw a total of 187 teams entered from across our Zones and Districts, as well as from Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria. This was up from 164 teams in 2021 and 153 teams in 2019. Particularly pleasing was the growth in U14 girls and U18 boys who had great jumps in teams participating.

This year was slightly different for our U14 and older age groups as we had the NSW Country Champs and the new Sydney Cups which were held within the State Champs weekend. These events made up the pool stages of the State Champs and saw a Country and Sydney Champion team declared on the Sunday before proceeding to State Champs finals series on the Monday.

Our U10 and U11 players had missed out for both 2020 and 2021, so the return of the Positive Rugby Foundation NSWJRU State Gala was met with much fanfare. And it did not disappoint with a record crowd at Tuggerah enjoying what really was a 'positive rugby experience’. As the Gala has no finals the traditional shields were awarded to the team (and their supporters) that showed the greatest ‘Rugby Spirit’ over the weekend. This is a unique award that takes no notice of results but more of attitude and truly reflects what this carnival is about.    

We were ably supported by some tremendous host venues and despite some weather issues all our championships proceeded as planned. We’d like to thank our host clubs and their teams of volunteers without which we couldn’t offer up such a fantastic event each year. The host venues and host clubs for 2022 were;

·        U10 & U11 – Tuggerah Sports Complex, Tuggerah (Central Coast Juniors)

·        U12 – Camden Rugby Park, Camden (Camden Rugby)

·        U13 – Apex Oval, Dubbo (Dubbo Roos Rugby)

·        U14 – Max Stewart Park, Orange (Orange City Rugby)

·        U15 – St Lukes Ovals, Concord (West Harbour Juniors)

·        U16 – Riverwood Park, Riverwood (Oatley Junior Rugby)

·        Opens – Eric Tweedale Oval, Granville (Two Blues Rugby)

·        U14 Girls – Koola Park, East Killara (Lindfield Juniors)

·        U16 Girls – Boronia Park, Hunters Hill (Hunters Hill Rugby)

·        Open Girls – Marcellin Park, Lorn (Maitland Rugby)

Congratulations to our 2022 Champions and well done to all involved. The results were;

Unfortunately, not everything always goes smoothly, and these Champs did see a team in the U14 Girls expelled from the competition under the Code of Conduct for the behaviour of their supporters. And another side in the U16 Boys was only allowed to take their place in the draw (with each match being a forfeit) after most of their players were found to be ineligible under the games played criteria. Both situations were avoidable and act as cursory tales for future years.

Following on from State Champs was the Positive Rugby Foundation Regionals tournament which is a basically selection carnival for the Sydney and NSW Country teams. Hosted at Grantham Reserve, Seven Hills by the Blacktown Scorpions club, it only managed to get in the first day as torrential wet weather washed out day2. Regardless the first day gave selectors the information they needed, and the resultant Sydney and NSW Country teams were selected.

At the end of July, we travelled to Ann Ashwood Oval in Bathurst to the Positive Rugby Foundation City vs Country Carnival. Bathurst Bulldogs were superb hosts as we saw the largest crowd in recent memory flock to see 7 high quality games of rugby. The NSW Country teams certainly came to play, and it is fair to say the points were probably shared on the day.

As always, the U16 and U18 boys also have extra pathways in these age groups. TheU18 boys started with ‘Open’ Trials for the Sydney and NSW Country teams at the start of May. These teams then went on to contest games against CHS, GPS, CCC & AICES as part of the NSW U18 selection pathway. From these games we saw several Sydney and NSW Country players selected in the top NSW Gen Blue sides, as well as the NSW Juniors XV – with some dually eligible club players also being picked up in NSW Schools teams. We also had a NSW U18 Barbarians team selected from players that missed out and also participated in the NSWJRU State Championships.

For the first time we saw these NSW U18 Club Rep sides (Juniors XV and Barbarians XV) invited to participate in the Australian Schools Championships (ASRU). The teams stayed in camp for the duration of the carnival at Knox Grammar school and was a wonderful experience for them. On the field these teams excelled with the NSW Barbarians making the final – both teams only lost one game each during the carnival.

From the ASRU carnival an Australian Schools Barbarians team was selected and several Juniors and Barbarians that were still attending school were selected. We also saw a couple of Sydney and NSW Country players selected via NSW Gen Blue into the top Australian Schools & U18s team.

The U16s pathway saw both Sydney and NSW Country play their NSW Schools counterparts for places in the NSW U16 Gen Blue side. This NSW U16 side then went on to win the U16 Nationals undefeated.

Sydney Juniors rounded out the regular season with a resumption of their traditional clashes with BJRU in the U14 Boys and Girls and U16 Girls. SJRU took all 3 games but with these fixtures back on the calendar, rugby was the winner.

The 7s Rep pathway was slightly different this year as an U13 District/Zone competition was added to the calendar for the NSWRU State 7s. This added to the successful U15 & U17 State 7s that was also held in Forster in Sep/Oct. Big crowds and lots of teams saw another successful carnival of 7s rugby.

Once again as seems to be the 2022 trend we saw 3 teams expelled from the U13 Girls State 7s – two teams for fighting and the third was expelled after the tournament (despite making the final) when found to have played ineligible players.    

I think we can say 2022 was a special year in NSW Juniors Representative programs and we look forward to building upon these in 2023.

Ben Gregory

VP Representative

10 November 2022

‍