Rugby: First XV learn drill from rep coaches

Ryan McLean-Harvey takes a pass during the BOP Rugby coaching clinic with Otumoetai College's First XV squad. Photo / George Novak

School holidays might be a time for surfing and relaxing for many Western Bay teenagers but not if you want to make the Otumoetai College First XV.

The squad of players determined to wear the green jersey from Term 2 were put through their paces on Tuesday in an energetic coaching clinic run by Steamers coaches Clayton McMillan and Rodney Gibbs with head trainer Keith Roberts.

Gibbs says getting out into the community and delivering common messages is a key value for Bay of Plenty Rugby coaches.

"That is particularly important at schoolboy level. It gives them a chance to have a touch of high performance training and what it looks like at the next level," Gibbs said.

"If we can keep the kids a bit excited and maybe enjoying getting a taste of it then that is great from our perspective. This is the area where we are losing most of our top end players and the schools are an area where we have a big focus on to encourage the boys to stay involved in the game.

"When they enter secondary school age is where we have a big cliff edge and we have a big drop in numbers, and we are losing kids at schools that don't have good rugby programmes.

"It is important that we encourage the schools and we have Ian Parata in the secondary schools role who is doing a good job trying to implement good structures in the schools. We have a lot of work to do in talent ID but I think we have good people in the right areas now."

Otumoetai College First XV co-coach Jamie Davis says the clinic was a great opportunity for coaches as well as players to get some tips from the top coaches in the Bay.

"We also have an opportunity here for all the coaches at Otumoetai College to look in and listen in at the training session and see how things are done, so it is beneficial not just to the players but also for the coaches." Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools competition begins on Saturday, May 2.