In its 17th year, the National Rugby Camp in Armidale has proved it is as popular as ever with around 260 young athletes signing up to take part.
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The three-day camp commenced on Sunday with junior rugby players put through their paces at SportUNE.
The participants have travelled from all over the region as well as across the state with a few even travelling from overseas to join in.
"All over Australia, we have Perth, Darwin, Roma, Cairns, a kid from Alice Springs, two from Tasmania, four from Singapore, two from New Zealand and then all around the region,” organiser Paul Schmude said.
"Even though it is a national rugby camp it definitely has international flavour now.
"The kid from Alice Springs is a new first-timer, he just wanted to have a go at it and we have been able to accommodate him here which he is very much looking forward to and very excited by that.”
The camp also incorporated a two-day girls camp.
Numbers were comparatively small stacked up against the overall numbers with 15 participants, but Schmude said it was an increase on last year and believes with word of mouth and the growth of the womens game, interest will grow.
“We had two twin girls that had never played the game,” Schmude said.
From a touch background they were quite timid at the start but by the end had really grown into the game.
The campers were on Tuesday also joined by Waratah’s prop Angus Ta’avao.
He took them through some drills before answering a series of questions and answers, and attending the dinner that night.