Above: Bernard O’Connor, Josh Briggs, Narrabri High School teacher and Narrabri Blue Boars women’s sevens player Daisy Robinson, Narrabri Rugby Club vice-president and Narrabri Junior Rugby Club president Mick Coffey, Narrabri Blue Boars senior player/under-16s coach and Narrabri High School teacher Clayton Pursche, Don Watkins and Miles Campbell are ready for the 2019 junior rugby union season.
Rugby union is back on the curriculum at Narrabri High School in 2019, and now the goal is to form a team to compete in representative school competitions.
The Narrabri Junior Rugby Club and Narrabri High School has formed a partnership which will be assisted by teachers Daisy Robinson and Clayton Pursche who are both Narrabri Rugby Club players.
“Narrabri High School has rugby Union back on the sporting curriculum thanks to the hard work of teachers Daisy Robinson and Clayton Pursche, who are also both current players for the Blue Boars,” Narrabri Junior Rugby Club president Mick Coffey told The Courier.
“We thank principal Dinos [Charalambous] for his full support.”
Following the success of the Narrabri Junior Rugby Club’s unbeaten grand final-winning under-14s team in the Friday night competition last year it is hoped that the Blue Boars’ junior program can also grow in 2019.
Coffey said that he expected both an under-14s team and also an under-16s team to compete in the Friday night competitions this year.
Narrabri did not field an under-16s team in 2018.
Coffey said that the partnership between the Narrabri Junior Rugby Club and the Narrabri High School would not impact on the aspirations of junior rugby players from around the shire to play for the Blue Boars.
“We welcome all players from all of the region’s schools to play for the junior Boars, not just Narrabri High students,” Coffey said.
“It is hoped that there are plenty of players for each age group.
“Those turning 13 and 14 in 2019 will be in the 14s squad, 15s and 16s will be in the 16s squad and 17 and 18-year-olds will be in the 19s squad.”
The Narrabri Junior Rugby pre-season training schedule kicked off on Tuesday afternoon at Dangar Park.
This season the under-14s and under-16s sides will train on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The under-19s team will train at a later time on those same days.
In the 2019 season the under-14s team will be coached by Ken Campbell and Chris Watkins, while Pursche has been named as the under-16s team’s coach.
Coffey, Tim Whan, and Bob Ford will coach the under-19s team.
