RUGBY New development programme for College rugby
A new development programme for rugby at College is underway with the appointment of a rugby development manager, Stephen Dods, and former All Black captain, Reuben Thorne who will coach the First XV.
reach his potential. It is not just about results, he says.
“We will start at the bottom and the big word for me is collaboration – with coaches, managers, parents, players and other sporting codes in the school. We want to have well- rounded, intelligent and humble players, in the way our Black Caps and All Blacks are. “We don’t want to put too many onerous expectations on our students so that it affects their academic endeavours. Nor do we want our programme to be seen as elitist - everyone will be treated the same. In my experience, 40% of those in B or C teams eventually end up in the First XV, so we will target those boys.’’ Reuben Thorne has a two-year contract to coach the First XV. He believes that in a school environment, a development programme needs to complement school values. “It needs to provide life skills such as leadership, goal setting, perseverance and team work which to me are as important as the technical skills I hope to transfer. I can remember my First XV days as the most enjoyable rugby I have
Reuben Thorne and Stephen Dods.
Director of Sport, Mr Rob Clarke emphasises the aim is not to create a rugby academy, nor is it to turn Christ’s College into being known as a “rugby school’’. “Being a small school, we have a much smaller base of rugby players to choose our teams from – 190 last year – much fewer than many other schools, so we need to be smarter with our resources.” Rugby results in 2015 had created community discussion which led to the need for a review, says Mr Clarke.
them to be in comparison with those of other sporting codes at College, where we have been competitive nationally. We wanted to ensure no code was being left behind, hence the review. “We reviewed what we currently had and have produced a model to raise the bar in rugby which can also be used to raise performance in other codes in the school. This involves the use of high profile external coaches and an intensive development programme.’’ Stephen Dods sees his role as taking rugby to a high performance level by putting systems in place so that every boy has the opportunity to
“Our results over the last few years have not been where we would like
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Christ’s College Canterbury
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