Juniors (U10 – U12) Admin

Our Juniors teams (U10-Open) play in a Sydney wide competition run by the Sydney Junior Rugby Union (SJRU). For further details, see:

Actions to do

  • Review rules – worth being familiar with the changes for this season
  • Load Team App onto your phone and register with Manly Roos to receive notifications
  • Touch judges are required from each team

Rugby Xplorer and Rugby Match Day Apps

Participants in SJRU competitions use two different apps:

All players and volunteers (including coaches, managers, Assistant Referees and Ground Marshalls) use the Rugby Xplorer App to register their participation in SJRU competitions.

Anyone using the Rugby Xplorer App can see draws, live scores and competition tables for SJRU teams they wish to follow as well as accessing other Rugby Australia content. The Rugby Xplorer App can be downloaded from the iTunes or Google Play stores.

The Rugby Match Day App is used by Team Managers/Admins for match day management tasks pre, during and post the fixture. The Rugby Match Day App is mandatory for Team Managers/Admins to be able to perform these match day tasks and can be downloaded from the iTunes and Google Play stores. Parents, spectators, etc do not required the Match Day App. Resources to support both Apps are available here

Game Day Requirements

There are four people that each junior team has to have for all games:

  1. Linesmen/Assistant referees. All junior teams (U10 and above) must have a qualified assistant referee at all games, or you will lose competition points. There are several courses available locally. See the course list here. There is a course at KP on 5 May. You need your ARU registration number for the sign-on sheets.
  2. Coaches: Similarly, coaches above U10 must be qualified to coach kids’ rugby. See the course list here.  All coaches who have done the course find it incredibly valuable, so minis coaches are very much encouraged as well. Smart rugby coaching course at KP on 29 April.
  3. Ground marshals: Who wear the nice orange vest. Our parents cannot get carried away. This is not the Bledisloe Cup. There is a code of conduct which you would think would be second nature. Unfortunately it isn’t. Almost every season someone seems to want to shame themselves, their kids and their club (thankfully not often ours). It is almost always a coach or manager. Let’s avoid it this year. Leave it to other sports. Ground marshals are there to make sure the game can continue in a good spirit. The ref can pull out a black card at any time and stop the game if it isn’t.
  4. First aid officer. We must provide a first aid officer for each SJRU home game. The Roos have arranged for a first aid officer at Keirle Park games for the season.

Decisions & Considerations

How many U-10 teams will there be?

In order to be competitive, teams in the U10s are formed into squads of about 15 players; any fewer than 14 players per team is difficult to sustain and any more than 16 players per team makes allocation of adequate game time difficult. With teams requiring 12 players on-field, this allows 2 to 4 reserves per team.

Why do we grade the boys?

Grading players is necessary to:

  1. Comply with the competition rules requiring players to be graded based on their ability, experience and playing position; and
  2. Ensure that players’ development, enjoyment and safety is maximised by playing in a team with players of similar ability and experience against well matched opposition teams

We understand that grading can be a difficult process, although experience indicates that it is often more difficult for the parents than their sons. Most of the boys are already graded into school teams and are comfortable with the process. Our primary objective is for the players to have the best experience possible playing rugby and our experience is that grading is the best way to promote player development and safety.

How do we grade the boys?

Grading (if required based on player registrations in the U10s) will be undertaken during the pre-season. At least two and possibly three internal trials will be arranged in order to provide a fair opportunity for each player to be assessed. Selection will be undertaken by the age group coaches assisted by independent selector from the Roos Committee. Typically, the U10 coaches, taking into account the views of the independent selectors, will be able to agree on the composition of the different squads in the age group. In the case of disagreement, the Club’s policy is that the Director of Rugby has the final say in selection of teams in each age group, after taking into account the input of independent selectors and the age group coaches. This process will result in two or more graded squads.

The composition of these squads will be reviewed by the age group coaches after external trial games played during the pre-season (if any) and the first four rounds of the competition. During those windows, players may be moved between teams based on their performance. Decisions to move players will be taken by the age group coaches.

After Round 4, no further changes will be made to the composition of the squads in the age group. Nevertheless, there will remain some flexibility for certain players to play for higher or lower teams in the age group, subject to the competition rules (all players can play up a team and players nominated as transferable can play down a team unless they become representative players).

Player commitments

Training is on Wednesday nights during school term, from 5:15pm to 6:30pm (this may vary for some teams depending on player and coach availability). The SJRU schedules some competition rounds at the beginning and end of school holidays, so that should be taken into account in holiday planning.

Parental commitments

Parent volunteers are essential to a rugby club such as Manly Roos. The following roles are important for each age group to run smoothly:

  1. Coaches. All coaches are required to be Smart Rugby qualified. The Club will cover associated costs with qualification. All coaches are also required to comply with Working with Children requirements.
  2. Team Managers. Responsible for communicating game details to parents, handling match day duties such as sign on sheets, player ID and water bottles and submitting results to the SJRU. All team managers are also required to comply with Working with Children requirements.
  3. Age Manager. Whenever there are two or more teams in an age group, an age coordinator is required to liaise with the team managers.
  4. Assistant referees. All teams are required to provide a qualified assistant referee (touch judge) at both home and away games. The Club will cover associated costs with qualification. Under the competition rules now in force, teams that provide a qualified touch judge will be awarded a bonus point at the end of each round. We do not want our U10 teams to miss the finals series by not achieving this requirement. That would be very difficult to explain to a ten year old!
  5. Ground marshalls. All teams are required to provide a ground marshall at both home and away games. The ground marshall is responsible for ensuring that spectators adhere to the code of conduct.

ResultsVault Site & App

All Junior SJRU draws and results can be viewed via the ResultsVault app: http://resultsvaultapp.interactsport.com/#download

Although TeamApp gives you all your team and club news, this is the best App to know accurately:
– the time and location of your team’s games (with a direct add to your own Calendar)
– the results of every team in your competition
– the table for your competition
– the ability to switch between your own team and all Roos teams for draw and results.

This information runs directly from the SJRU RugbyLink website/draw, so it is accurate.