Union defends decision on age-grade rugby after College attack

The decision to implement a year-long trail for teenage rugby players to represent their club over their school has been defended after a blistering attack from Nelson College.

Tasman Rugby Union announced that only clubs, not schools, could register teams in the U14, U15 and U16 grades for the 2025 season. This meant the Nelson College could not field teams in those grades despite having done so for generations.

On Tuesday, Nelson College Principal Richard Washington, wrote a letter to parents calling the decision “unjust, discriminatory and inconsistent”. A media statement issued later that day didn’t use those words but said he was “extremely disappointed with the poor process” and called on New Zealand Rugby to intervene and reverse the decision.

But the Nelson Bays Rugby Sub Union has fired back, issuing a timeline of the process, which dates back to 2022, when discussions about countering a drop off in player numbers was first discussed.

In 2023 a club-only competition for the U14 competition was trialled and this year a ‘split window’ was trialled for the U14 and U15 grades, where half of the season was club-only and half school-only.

After surveys were conducted of players, parents and coaches involved in the trails, a Nelson Bays Age Grade Council was formed. This consisted of representatives from clubs with age grade teams, Waimea College and Nelson College.

This group voted in favour of a ‘club only’ competition for U14, U15 and U16 in 2025 with a 9-2 vote. Only Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Club voted against the plan.

Richard says that the consultation was unfair and unbalanced.

“The TRU decision is based on a survey of clubs and schools - clubs who are looking for talent and player registrations, and schools who don’t have a rugby programme anyway. No wonder the outcome was a decision to disband Nelson College Saturday rugby.”

In a statement released to Nelson Weekly, Nelson Bays Rugby Sub Union chair Jimmy van der Colk says that the union believes this approach will see more players stick with the game for longer.

“This decision was made following robust discussion, trials, surveys showing the preference of participants to play for their clubs and an improved retention of youth players over the last two seasons when age grade players have been aligned to their clubs.

“The addition of the U16 grade for 2025 continues the progression of Saturday Club Age Grade competitions that began with U14s in 2023 and U14 and U15 grades this year. This club connection will smooth the transition for those players who choose not to leave the region after school, to continue playing local senior rugby and maintain a life-long love of the game.”

Richard says the College disagrees with that rationale.

“The issue for the clubs in our region is not that players lose touch with their club while playing for college, rather it is the fact that the majority of young people leave our small region after school. Whether they play for colleges or clubs at age 15 to 18 makes no difference to club retention. However, when they return to Nelson, having gone through club junior programmes, players do go back to their clubs as seniors.”

Nelson College is now waiting on a response from New Zealand Rugby to its urgent request for intervention.