The Southern Schools Rugby Championship kicks off in May and the Te Kura o Titiea Mt Aspiring College 1st XV (MAC) team held a training camp over the past weekend in preparation.

The side will be coached by Jason Clarke and Wayne Enoka and will field an experienced lineup. Wayne said he is excited to see what they can produce.

“The boys are training exceptionally well,” he said. 

“I think we’ve got a lot of year 13s this year and they want to leave their mark on MAC rugby.”

Wayne said the training camp, which was held in conjunction with King’s High School (Dunedin), was an opportunity to develop the players and coaches by drawing on the resources at King’s High School as well as the skills of Otago rugby regional development coach Will Henry.

“The purpose was more of a development, training and learning for the players and coaches,” Wayne said.

“We’ve decided we’ll make it an annual thing, so we’ll do it with King’s every year.”

Approximately 28 MAC students attended the camp which included game time against King’s High School’s 1st XV & 2nd XV.

Top coaches imparted their knowledge to the players.

In a boost for rugby at MAC, Otago Rugby Union coach developer Aaron Callaghan has worked with the coaches to prepare the 1st XV for the season, which Wayne said “is huge for us”. 

“Being able to have him on board and to have that experience is amazing for the boys,” Wayne said.

The format for the Southern Schools Rugby Championship is 18 schools competing across two divisions; a top six and then two second tiers of six each. After a round-robin the respective winners of each second tier will play for promotion to the top six before the commencement of the second round. After the second round teams will enter a finals series based on their finishing position in the second round.

In round one MAC will play in the second-tier Maroon Pool featuring Central Southland College 1st XV, Dunstan High School 1st XV, Southland Boys High School 2nd XV, John McGlashan College 2nd XV, and Waitaki Boys High School 1st XV.

MAC’s first match is on Saturday May 11 at MAC at 12.45pm against Waitaki Boys High School.

Photos: Mandy Enoka