Daily Mail RBS Schools Competition 2011/12

After another successful Daily Mail RBS Schools Finals day at Twickenham, preparations are already underway for the 2011/12 competition. Both the U15 and U18 Cup draws and now available to view online in the RFU.com fixtures and results section.

If you have any queries regarding the competition then please use the Daliy Mail RBS Cup FAQs page. However, if you need any more information then please contact the RFU using the below contact details:

U18 Queries: Victor Amuzu
Email: u18dailymailrbs@therfu.com
Phone: 020 8831 7649

U15 Queries: Tom Price
Email: u15dailymailrbs@therfu.com
Phone: 020 8831 6784

Daily Mail RBS Schools Competition Regulations

A full copy of the Daily Mail RBS Regulations are available to download.

It is important to draw attention to Regulation 4 of the Daily Mail RBS Schools Competition Regulations 201/2012 on Eligibility of Players.

Please note the following:

• Under 15 Competition – players must be Under 15 years of age at midnight on the August 31/September1 2011, therefore if their birthday is before September 1, 1996 they are too old to compete in this Under 15 Competition.
• Under 18 Competition – players must be Under 18 years of age at midnight on the August 31/September 1 2011, therefore if their birthday is before September 1, 1993 they are too old to compete in this Under 18 Competition.

Changes for 2011/12 Season

As you can no doubt imagine the England Rugby Football Schools Union (ERFSU) takes the management of the Daily Mail RBS Cup Competitions very seriously and is continuously considering ways in which to improve the experience for all our key stakeholders – players, teachers, coaches, supporters and sponsors.

You may be aware the ERFSU regrettably had to disqualify a number of teams from the competitions for breach of Regulations. These breaches included selecting over-age players. Whilst no one takes any satisfaction from such action, we are determined to ensure that schools that seek to gain an unfair advantage by ignoring the Regulations are identified and suitably punished.

In order to make the competitions more robust, the ERFSU has agreed the following changes for Season 2011/12:

1. The newly formed U15 Vase structure will run again this season. There are however a number of changes to the format. Only those Schools/Colleges that get knocked out in Round 1 will drop into the Vase. That means that those who are given Walkovers in the Round 1 will not be able to drop into the Vase having lost in Round 2. 
2. The Vase Pools are to be far more structured and Round dates will now have to be adhered to next season (please refer to the attached schedule).
3. Both the Winners and Runners Up in each Pool will now automatically go into the KO stages of the Vase resulting in an extra Round to be played in November.
4. There is also likely to be amendments to the Point scoring system in the Pool stages of the Vase, these changes will however be confirmed in the full regulations which will be sent out in due course.

Rugby Union's Core Values

Last season we were compelled to write about the spectator behaviour during the Daily Mail RBS Schools semi finals and finals. Although the level of behaviour at these events improved this season we must urge everyone involved in rugby to stay vigilant against all behaviour that detracts from the ethos of our game.

For those with any association with rugby, two of the key values we treasure are mutual respect and self-discipline. Regrettably there is a growing tendency among the supporters from schools to disregard these values by jeering and whistling during attempts at goal. While this may seem a somewhat petty point on which to focus, if we allow this trend to continue unchecked we will quickly lose the very sporting ethos that marks the game out from other sports.

Therefore, we again would like to make this plea to all schools that you do your utmost to instil into your pupils the essence of mutual respect and self-discipline that for so long has been associated with the game. In this way those who feel the urge to put their opponents off by whistling and jeering are countered by their teammates.

Further Information

The latest RFU news on the Daily Mail RBS Cup & Vase is available in the news section, while the Daily Mail newspaper offers extensive coverage of the schoolboy competition.

Capture the event

Photographs from the Daily Mail U15 & U18 semi finals are now available for purchase. To order your copies, simply log on to DMRBSSchoolsRugby and enter the password schoolsrugby2011.