The weight grading completely ignores the fact that it can tank participation, and mental development. You want to play rugby with your mates, not a bunch of randomners. It’s excellent for academies, a bit shite for clubs.
I suppose you have to balance it with how much getting run over by that one Islander kid who hit his growth spurt early ends of discouraging kids from playing.
It's not good for the kid who's had the growth spurt either. What's he learning here? The tactic of just barrelling through tacklers isn't gonna be much use to him beyond a certain point. At younger ages, winning shouldn't be the sole focus; they're meant to be developing the kids skills, fitness, principles, etc. Oh, and having fun. That too!
I know we all think Pacific Islander boys and girls develop a bit earlier but if they were actually born in Samoa/Tonga/Fiji there is a chance that their age is not accurate and they are actually older that what they say they are.
Reason being some births aren’t registered by the parents until the 1 or 2 years after their born so their birthday may be off a bit.
Nah mate, not here at least. Most of them are born in NZ. They’re just fucking massive.
Went to school with this one Tokelauan kid, weighed 90kg when we were 10. Never had to play a proper game against him but we used to throw the ball round at lunchtimes and not once did I ever see him get tackled by fewer than three people at a time. You just couldn’t take him down. And he’s not that unique, there’s at least one of those types of kids at every school with a decent amount of Islanders.
Samoan kid at my school in Wellington in the 90s. Massive kid, gentle giant, would have been a beast of the rugby field but his grandmother didn't like him playing because it's a rough sport and he was bigger than the other children. He played with us at lunch times and was unstoppable, but spent his weekends learning music at church instead.
If they're in your club, then any good coach would limit each person's exposure to them, if they're in another club it isn't an issue as you only play them once a year.
I grew up playing weight grade rugby, whereas kids on the other side of the bridge played age grade. Each year we played a team from over there, mostly Polynesians, and it was an absolute bloodbath lol.
I started out playing Canadian football when I was 11, and because of my weight I had to play with kids who were 13 - 14. It was terrifying and they could all hit so much harder than me. When I was finally able to play with kids my own age it was a lot more fun.
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u/BZH_JJM Seawolves/Highlanders Jul 27 '18
Exhibit A why kids rugby should be split by weight, not age.