Exiles Inter Regional Championship

Sunday, March 3 represents a major day in the Exiles’ calendar. The Exiles Inter Regional Championship will be held on the famous London Irish ARFC grounds in Sunbury, and is a competitive environment in which we can identify players to be selected to attend our National Assessment Camp.

The teams are selected from players that have attended our regional Festival Days throughout the season and it gives players an opportunity to be seen in competitive matches.

The process is not only an opportunity for the Exiles in player identification but also for the Provinces to identify and monitor potential future stars. Players such as Connacht’s Kieran Marmion have come through this system in recent seasons.

The format is as follows:

• Four Exiles Regions: North – North of England, Scotland and North Wales, Midlands – Central England
South West – South West of England and South Wales, South East – South East of England

• Three age groups: Under-16s – 15-year-old players, Under-17s – 16-year-old players, Under-18s – 17-year-old players

• Each region will provide three teams with one in each age group and each team will be a squad of 20 players.

Therefore there will be 60 players per region and a total of 240 players participating.

Matches will be 40 minutes (20 minutes each way) and each team will play two matches in the Championship. A draw will be made for the initial matches with the winners playing in the final and the losers playing off for third and fourth places.

Matches will run simultaneously on three different pitches with each age group allocated a pitch. The final matches will be played one after another on the main pitch starting with Under-16s and finishing with the Under-18s.

The provinces have been invited to attend and participate in last-minute coaching and preparation to get a closer understanding and look at the players. The hope would be that each province would adopt a region and help in the activities throughout the day.

Food will be available throughout the day for all involved with parents being able to purchase food and beverages also.

Registration for the day will commence at 10am.

First round matches kick off at 12pm and 12pm; third/fourth place play-off matches at 2pm; Under-16s final 3pm; Under-17s final 3.45pm and Under-18s final 4.30pm.