FORU Oceania U19s Championship Schedule launched today

The Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU) has today launched the Tournament schedule for the 2010 Oceania U19s Championship to be staged in Apia, Samoa, between 23 August and 3 September.

The Oceania U19s Championship, to be contested by Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Cooks Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu and American Samoa, not only determines the Oceania U19s Champion and the Regional qualifier for the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) 2011 Junior World Trophy, but also allows for players and coaches to gauge their standard and stage of development amongst other regional teams.

“The Samoa Rugby Union is delighted to once again host the Oceania U19s Championship, and views this as an excellent opportunity to showcase and develop this crucial age group Tournament within the region.  The Tournament serves as a key pathway towards next year’s IRB Junior World Trophy, and provides selectors with an excellent platform in which to consolidate selections.  A facet which will benefit all teams participating.” said CEO of the Samoa Rugby Union, Sua Peter Schuster.

Whilst Samoa will start the Tournament as red-hot favourites, the lessons learnt from their disappointing performance at this year’s Junior Word Championship (where they finished last and were therefore relegated to the 2011 IRB Junior World Trophy) means they will not be taking any of their opponents lightly.

“In view of our performances at the Junior World Cup in recent years, no one would have imagined we would have lost to Tonga and Fiji, which says a lot in terms of underestimating opponents. We won’t be doing the same against the likes of the Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea!” said SRU CEO Sua Peter Schuster  “We are mindful that the Tournament is also about developing other unions in the Oceania Region, so that they may be able to aspire to the standards set by Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.  This has much parallel with us, in that, we are always in need to compete and secure more games with High Performance Unions to lift our standards and levels.  So it should be for teams such as Tahiti, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.  The more games they can play against teams such as Samoa will provide great benefit to them in terms of experience to obviously raise their levels and standards. So, we are delighted to be part of this development process and believe in strengthening Pacific Rugby as a whole” he added.

As in previous years of the Championship, the Tournament will feature “friendly matches” which will provide teams on opposite sides of the Tournament competition pools with the opportunity to compete against teams seldom encountered. Teams will not earn competition points from these ‘friendlies’.

The Oceania U19s Championship is not just a rugby tournament that delivers high level competition for aspiring young players. It is a tournament with a strong Legacy program linked to it – one that is designed to create a lasting benefit not only for players but for the rugby community and the broader local population of the Host Union.

Through the Oceania U19s Championship Legacy program, FORU and the SRU are partnering with a number of high profile organisations including the United Nations, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Samoa Aids Foundation and the International Rugby Board to tackle some of the region’s key social development challenges whilst also ensuring there is a very clear Rugby legacy through the delivery of targeted Rugby-specific programs.

The 2010 Oceania U19 Championship kicks off with the first of three triple headers at Apia Park on 23 August and culminates with the finals on 3 September. The 2009 Champions, Fiji, will not be defending their title which means we will see a new Oceania U19 Champion crowned on 3 September.

2010 Oceania U19s Championship Tournament Schedule

Pool 1                                                          Pool 2

Samoa                                                          Papua New Guinea

Tahiti                                                            Vanuatu

American Samoa                                           Cook Islands

* denotes the “Friendly” fixture