National U17 Competition
Competition Overview
The RFU’s National U17s competition continues to provide a competitive rugby structure for club players up and down the country and to encourage players at under 17 level to represent their club and progress through to their club’s adult sides.
The 2010/11 competition culminated in a great day of rugby at Stourton Park, home of Stourbridge RFC as Clifton, Reeds Weybridge, Trentham, and Market Bosworth walked away with wins in the Shield, Bowl, Plate and Cup competitions respectively.
The key objectives of the competition are to offer a competitive rugby structure to an age group that traditionally drift away from the game and to provide a player development pathway from junior to adult rugby for many young club players across the country.
The competition is growing in status year on year but the emphasis remains on competitive rugby for club players, not Elite players who have ample opportunity to play in competitive games and structures.
With this in mind the regulations state that: "A player who is a nominated RFU England Academy Scholar or a player who has been selected for any England Age Grade representative match squad (or comparable team from another IRB Tier One Nation) during the current season will not be eligible."
Competition Format
| Competition round dates |
|---|
| Cup, Plate, Bowl & Shield Divisional |
Quarter finals |
Sunday, March 4, 2012 |
| Cup, Plate, Bowl & Shield Divisional |
Semi finals
|
Sunday, March 18, 2012 |
| Cup, Plate, Bowl & Shield Divisional |
Finals |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 |
| National Competition |
Semi finals |
Sunday, April 22, 2012 |
| National Competition |
Finals |
Sunday, May 6, 2012 |
The competition consists of four levels (Shield, Bowl, Plate and Cup) and is organised in three stages through which teams can progress; local Constituent Body level organised leagues, divisional knock out stages and the competition culminates in the National semi finals and finals.
Regulations
All teams nominated to progress in the competitions by their CB must familiarise themselves with the National U17 competition regulations (PDF 50kB). Ignorance of these regulations will not be deemed an excuse in the event of a breach.
Please pay particular attention to Regulation 4, Eligibility of players, which states that all players must have been ‘effectively registered with the club he is representing on the Rugby Football Union RugbyFirst database on or before December 31 of the current season.
To find out more about getting involved in the competition please contact your local CB or Tom Brewis in the RFU’s Tournaments & Competitions department at tombrewis@rfu.com.