Last night's historic encounter between the RGC Hub Clubs of Caernarfon and Rhuthun was another piece of the RGC jigsaw being placed.
Hub Club Match Picture - First Piece of the jigsaw - Jim Salisbury - Ruthin Head Coach; Peredur Jenkins - WRU Board Member; Rupert Moon - RGC General Manager; Councillor Graham Rees; Caernarfon's new head coach, Chris Malherbe and Marc Roberts, WRU Performance Manager
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Both clubs have been selected as Hub Clubs for the North Wales Region and were launched as such before the kick Off.
Marc Roberts the WRU Performance Programme Manager for North Wales explains the role of the Hub Club “We identified quite early on that the academy programme would need to be extended beyond a simple 2 year programme and we also acknowledged that it was important to integrate academy players into the clubs of North Wales.Caernarfon and Ruthin have been through a rigorous procedure, which meant they had to match some key criteria both on and off the field and both will have a key role to play in the development of WRU RGC Academy players.
Both Caernarfon and Ruthin showed good leadership and management and had clear Values, Vision and Mission. Both clearly demonstrated that they had a player-centered approach to player development and will make great partners to the WRU RGC academy and the RGC senior regional team. We have already started placing some of our academy players into Caernarfon and Ruthin and the initial signs are really positive”.
While clearly Caernarfon and Ruthin have a lot to offer they will also receive a significant amount of supportnot just in additional players butfrom the RGC and academy staff specifically in the technical, tactical, physical, player welfare and analytical areas of the game.
Jim Salisbury the Head coach of Ruthin was delighted to be selected as the “Hub Club” for North East Wales and said “Both parties have put a tremendous amount of effort and time into this process, in which I’m positive the rewards will soon show. Ruthin RFC is working towards a 3-year plan and this appointment will only help the club move forwards to achieve their goal. Developing young players is the clubs main philosophy and this will be strengthened by the partnership the club now has with RGC, through the support structure and working with their team of highly qualified and experience coaches.
On a personal level, I would like to wish RGC every success for this season.”
Rupert Moon the new General Manager for North Wales commented:
“I would like to thank all North Wales Clubs who applied for Hub Club status – it was a very tough decision but our intention is to build on the programme over the next 3 years. We want to build on the rich proud history of North Wales rugby and its starts today. All 35 Clubs are key pieces of the RGC jigsaw and when we join together we can create a fantastic Rugby Development picture.
The work on the jigsaw is well underway and we relish the challenge of completing it!”
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