Ulster Schools' U16 Blitz Day

All 32 Grammar Schools in Ulster are divided into 4 regions; North Country, South Country, North Belfast, South Belfast.
Players from each school were nominated last September and have been training as part of one of the four U16 Regional Development Squads throughout the season.

8 sessions have been held under the watchful eye of regional managers, coaches and assistant coaches while squads of 25 players were selected. The session content and structure of the programme ensures that the players technical, tactical, mental, lifestyle and physical capacities are improved in line with the IRFU Long Term Player Development (LTPD) process. During these sessions the players were graded by their regional coaches on all areas of the game.

The finale of the season was a blitz where all four regions came together and played each other in a mini tournament. Ulster Schools' U18 coaches as well as Ulster Academy/Branch staff were in attendance to observe all the players on show. Allen Clarke, the IRFU High Performance Manager was also present to run his eye over stars of the future. Around 60 players were selected to move forward into the U17 Development Squad while a few were considered good enough to move into the provisional Ulster Schools U18 Squad. This will further be reduced to around 30 who will train throughout the summer and compete in the schools U18 Interprovincial series in September and October.