19-22 July 2021

Six of our players took part in the three-night, four-day training camp run by the Cantabrians from Monday 19 July. The Cantabrians call for nominations in June each year and announce the accepted players soon after the cut-off date. The selection is oriented towards achieving a good spread of regional representation with players from teams in the U18 grade (not the Crusader Region 1st XV Championship) being involved. Two games are played between a Cantabrians team and a Sassenachs team. 

Here is the basic outline of this year's camp from the Cantabrians Club

BURNHAM LIVE-IN RUGBY COACHING SCHOOL 19-22nd JULY 2021

The Cantabrian Rugby Football Club is holding its annual live-in coaching school at Burnham Camp 19-22 JULY 2021 for boys 16.5 (on July 1st 2021) to 18 years of age and invites nominations from clubs / schools / unions for eligible boys to attend.

An interesting and varied programme is planned with NZ Rugby / World Rugby Educators and CRFU staff coaches conducting training and two matches will be played during the four days. Boys nominated must be able to live in a team environment during the school.

Junior Harris:  "At the Camp we had multiple presentations ranging from people in the military to the Crusaders Academy. The presentations were really enlightening about what goes on behind the scenes. One of my favourite presentations was that delivered by the referees. I was surprised at how much goes on in the background that us players actually don’t see. We were given a short test with 13 questions in small groups. Not one group answered all of the 13 questions correctly, but we found that the referees are quizzed on 100 questions. The group I was in was surprised how much we didn’t know around the rules of the game. It was really eye-opening to find out how much a ref has to study and how many rules they have to learn. The biggest learnings I took away from the presentation was that although a referee may not always be perfect, they sure do know the game better than anyone else on the field, so we have to trust them that they are doing their job to the best of their abilities."

Will Coombes:   "Common room. The common room was where we hung out during the day. We would go there between practices for a bit of downtime and to rest up. In the common room we also had some sessions with professional coaches and players, as well as members of the NZ Army who came to talk to us. The common room was where we ate lunch each day."

Oliver Lawry: "This photo was taken at a session with referee educator Lyndon McKendry and one of her up-and-coming young referees. We talked about the rules of the game and the importance of knowing them. This helped us as young athletes so we know what we can and can’t do during the game."