The Melbourne Unicorns continue to develop and support up and coming talented players. Four players will represent the Club and Victoria this Sunday as they kick-off in the Junior Gold Cup campaign for the Melbourne Rebels U15 and U17 teams at ‘Quins.

The Junior Gold Cup (JGC) is a National long-term talent development and competition program at U15 and U17 age levels. The truly National nature of the JGC competition provides players, coaches, administrators and match officials with the opportunity to be involved in high levels of representative Rugby programming and development at a National level on an annual basis whilst maintaining local or regional representation.

Speaking in his role as the Rebels U15 Team Manager, Adrian Pritchard from the Melbourne Unicorns explained, “The support that the Melbourne Rugby Club can provide Junior players is two fold. Our Junior program from Pathway Grades into Competition Grades allows players to develop their skill set from an early age. On top of that we have a strong Club that is willing to invest in raw talent as well as some very generous individuals that can help these kids and their families on their rugby pathway.”

In the first two seasons, the JGC Melbourne Rebels sides had some great success, seeing both sides compete in the final in 2014, with the U15s taking out the crown as U15 Champions. 2015 saw both sides make the semi finals against the ACT, with a number of players from the U17s transitioning into the Rebels U18s Schoolboys side.

Image: David Savea (U15) pictured, Reuben Mulipola (U15), Antonio Faamausili (U17) and Tolu Junior Lavea (U17) have been selected for the Rebels JGC Teams.

The scheduling of the JGC program allows players to compete in a National competition while continuing to participate in their local Club and school competitions. The JGC program is an evolution of the Junior Gold Program conducted over the past two years and is a key part of Australian Rugby’s “Pathway to Gold” that will provide talented players an opportunity to compete against the best in their age group across Australia.

Nic Henderson, Elite Pathways Manager said “We are looking forward to seeing the performance of the 2016 sides who have been training hard since October 2015 and no doubt there is some exciting young talent progressing through the community rugby pathways in Victoria”.

High level performance and development in this competition will provide players with the foundations to push for medium to long term higher level representation including the ARU’s National Gold Squad, State and National U20 teams, the Australian Rugby Sevens team and ultimately Super Rugby and the Wallabies.

Upcoming Matches

Victoria U15 Vs Sydney North West U15
Date: Sunday 14 February
Time: 11:00 am
Location: Harlequin Rugby Club, Ashwood Reserve, Power Ave, Ashwood

Victoria U17 Vs Metro East U17
Date: Sunday 14 February
Time: 12:30 pm
Location: Harlequin Rugby Club, Ashwood Reserve, Power Ave, Ashwood

Victoria U15 Vs Central Coast U15
Date: Sunday 13 March
Time: 9:00 am
Location: TBA

Victoria U17 Vs Eastern Province
Date: Sunday 13 March
Time: 10:30 am
Location: TBA

Source: Rebels Media Unit