Bs v Tiari
August 24th, 2008It was a sad day for University Rugby yesterday as Tiari won the promotion relegation game that allows them to play in the Premier Metropolitan Division. This is the end of an extremely long era of both University A’s and B’s playing in the same premier division. The University A’s is our clubs top team which has been made possible by the support they have received over the years by University B’s players. Now that the B’s will more than likely be dropped a division to the prem II’s our club will find it increasingly difficult for us to attract competitive players. On the flip side, I think that the creation of this new division in the club will allow for a wider range of skilled rugby players to play for a team that will suit their ability. I know this because every year, for the past 6 years, I have sat at the University Rugby stand in Tent City over University Orientation week and watched students being turned off because they are over 21, and cannot play Colts Rugby, which means they have to play open grade, premier division, University B’s rugby. This is often a big ask for our international students whom have only played rugby in less developed rugby nations. With this in mind, our club might gain some strength from appealing to a wider range of abilities which they were never able to before as the high standard of rugby in the division did not allow it.