THE New England competition has expanded to incorporate a formal fourth grade competition.
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The instigation of an extra grade comes as Pirates also rejoins the third grade competition and the zone prepares to host the U12, 13 and 14 NSW Country Championships.
The championships will be played at Consett Davis and involve representative teams from the host zone, Central North, Illawarra, Far North Coast, Central Coast, Central West, Mid North Coast and the Hunter.
Games kick off at 8.30am tomorrow, with finals action getting under way at 12.30pm on Sunday.
In between, there’ll be six games of local grade action across four grades in Armidale as well as two in Bingara where the River Rats host St Alberts in second and third grade.
The students are one of four clubs that will field a fourth grade side, along with Armidale, Barbarians and Robb.
It is an exciting development for the competition and follows an informal fourth grade arrangement, NERU publicity officer Scott Waterson said, whereby if clubs had surplus players they organised a fourth grade game.
There’s already been a couple this season.
“The extra teams provide a great vehicle for fringe players to pull on the boots and gives clubs a way of introducing younger and novice players to club rugby,” Waterson said.
The competition will kick off tomorrow with Baa Baas tackling Robb.
Also exciting is the Pirates’ re-emergence.
“The welcome return will see more lower grade rugby played, with Pirates playing the curtain raiser to Glen Innes matches,” Waterson said.
They will alleviate the bye that was in third grade.
The Tamworth-based club made a foray into the New England competition last season but was initially reluctant to take part again this season.
The main reasoning for that was that the numbers weren’t there.
They’ve since picked up.
“A lot of it is to do with the fact that guys have turned up later who weren’t there pre-season,” Pirates club coach Andrew Verrell said.
“The basic premise is to give guys rugby. That’s the reasoning behind us doing it.”
It’s mainly guys who can’t make the commitment to train twice a week. Club policy dictates that players who can train two nights are favoured over players who don’t.
That means the latter often miss out on playing.
They might also use it as an avenue to get their U18s more games.
The timing though is horrendous, Verrell said.
He’s had to pull up players left, right and centre for first and second grade, leaving them “struggling” for tomorrow.
“Hopefully, it’ll come to fruition and we get a team up there this Saturday.”
In first grade action, Baa Baas will be hoping to re-establish the fortress reputation of their home-ground Alcatraz and get their season back on track against a Robb side buoyed by their impressive win against competition front-runners Armidale last week, while the Blues will be seeking to atone for their first loss when they host Glen Innes at Moran Oval.
