Rugby: World Cup on its way to schools in the North

The Webb Ellis Cup in all its glory. Photo / NZME

Rugby's richest prize, the Webb Ellis Cup, will make a fleeting return to Northland early next week.

Set to get their hands on the very cup former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw held up triumphantly in 2011 and 2015, students from Kaitaia College, Bay of Islands College, and Whangarei Boys' High School are among the lucky few in line to host the Webb Ellis for the Northland leg of a nationwide New Zealand Rugby Union initiative aimed at attracting secondary school aged players to the game.

"Secondary schools are an area we're pretty passionate about at the moment, and we've been putting a lot of resource into that area," NZRU education and coaching resource manager Peter Harold said.

While members of the greater public will miss out this time around, Harold did not rule out the cup turning up in New Zealand's regions for various events.

"It's not a trophy tour like in the past.

"I don't think there will be a big one like we did last time. That was bigger than Texas.

"This is really to kick-off teen rugby which is an area where we need growth. But we've got it for two years, so it won't be just sitting in the cabinet," he added.

Keen to boost the number of secondary school students playing rugby for Northland schools, Northland Rugby Union's rugby administrator in schools, Brad Te Haara, said the main desire is to "get teens signed up to play rugby, and to get the cup in front of kids that wouldn't normally see it".

"It's a low-key event targeted at teenagers, new players and players returning to rugby, this year.

"We obviously couldn't get down to Dargaville or Rodney because we only have one day," Te Haara said of the tight timeframe.

"It would have been good to get to Northland College or Kerikeri High School, but we are a bit restricted in what we could do."

Taking place next Monday, the Webb Ellis' tour of the North will start at Kaitaia College in the morning. It will then move to Bay of Islands around lunch time before finishing up at Whangarei BHS.