Sixty Central West rugby players will head on a week-long tour in Christchurch next year, where they will play two games, train with Canterbury Crusaders staff and attend a Super Rugby game.
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The trip, which will be for 35 men’s and 25 women’s players, will kick off part of what Central West Rugby Union president Matt Tink hopes will be regular tours to New Zealand by Central West players.
He said the current thinking was for the tours to be run every two years.
The trip is slated for March next year, with the sides set to be selected after the Classic Wallabies vs Central West Barbarians game on November 17.
Some of the Canterbury Raiders’ coaching staff will take the Central West troops through their paces, while they will also play two games against opponents who are yet to be announced.
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The squad will also watch the Crusaders train as part of the trip.
Tink said the tours were aimed at providing something for CWRU players to work towards and something to encourage them to stay in the Central West instead of moving east of the mountains for more opportunities.
He also said it was something Blue Bulls players had pushed for earlier in 2018.
“We tested the waters at the end of the Caldwell Cup and asked players for their feedback and there were a lot of really good suggestions, and having something like this to aim for was one of them,” he said.
“We really want to make sure there was a pathway for country players … if the product is there, people will stick around for it.”
The men have a shortlist of 25 that Blue Bulls coach Dean Oxley is looking at, with another 10 names to be picked from the GrainCorp Cup curtain-raiser match between the North and South conferences at the Classic Wallabies game.
“If there’s not the quality in that game we’re looking for, we have a second list of talent we’re looking at,” Tink said.
He said it was exciting to be able to take a women’s side as well as men across the ditch, with selection to take place later in November.
Teams for the Classic Wallabies game would be confirmed over the coming week or so, with final details and confirmations for both the ex-Australian players and Barbarians still being nutted out.
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Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
