Welsh Rugby Union
  • last year
Transcript
00:00 We're here today in the wonderful surroundings of Christ's College Brecon to launch the new
00:17 season of the new WIU Welsh Schools and Colleges Rugby National Conference. It marks a moment
00:24 in the history of Welsh Schools and Colleges Rugby whereby we have reviewed and updated
00:29 the competition. We're pleased to invite three new licence holders, Christ's College Brecon
00:35 being one of them, Ysta Laferra and Ysgold Offran Amman to join 13 existing licenced
00:41 schools and colleges running rugby programmes across Wales for talented 16 to 18 year olds.
00:46 Ysta Laferra and Ysgold Offran Amman are very welcome to play in the competition. They've
00:50 been doing well over the last few years so I think they deserve the opportunity and I
00:54 think they're doing well too.
00:55 Being reigning champs it means we will have a target on our back. The final was a bit
01:06 of a fairy tale in the end, last minute try, last minute winner. But I feel like we can
01:11 handle the pressure, we've got a lot of new boys, a lot of new hunger, a lot of new desire
01:16 and I'm just ready to get into the season.
01:20 It's obvious to just look at the number of players in the world now. There are five of
01:26 the old boys from Colleges who have played in this competition and I think over 54% of
01:32 the players in the competition have been capped in the last seven minutes who have come from
01:37 this competition as well. So it's obvious that the competition is helping to develop
01:41 the players to play together.
01:44 I'm really looking forward to playing against the teams from the Sevens. Everyone has given
01:50 me a lot of advice. I'm really looking forward to winning this title, the same title as Jack
01:56 Morgan.
01:57 We have reviewed and updated our licence scheme to place greater emphasis on the quality of
02:02 the rugby programmes our 16 partners deliver and updated the competition to ensure that
02:08 it provides a really thriving and exciting place for players to play. As a result we've
02:13 separated the 16 establishments into two conferences, National Conference A and B and are hopeful
02:20 for much more intense games, closer games, greater rivalries, new rivalries and a degree
02:26 of jeopardy through our new play-off structure that can lead to promotion or relegation between
02:31 the conferences and ultimately determine the winner at the annual Grand Final.
02:36 It gives special emphasis to the boys to prioritise their school work with rugby opportunities
02:43 but also for us as a department it's very important that we can see the boys playing
02:48 and know that they have good training sessions, that they are doing core sessions to develop
02:53 them. The preparation is then the boys for the games in the summer, the regional and also
03:00 for the international games that will come in the new year.
03:04 We're really pleased about the way the league is structured, it gives everybody that platform,
03:09 that pathway to follow through and we're really ambitious and I'm just looking forward to
03:14 seeing how the school reacts to us taking part and I'm excited to see how the younger
03:19 children look up and think 'do you know what, that would be me in five or so years' time'.
03:23 [Music]
03:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]