Maybe too much time has passed since this article was supposed to come out. The original plan is for it to come out after the European Junior Championships, but we may have taken a little more time to write than we should have. However, it is perhaps better that we publish it now because, in addition to the recapitulation, we also gave suggestions on how and what we should do in the next half-season. For each of them, we think it would improve the quality of the competition and the organization in general.
We mostly touched on the issue of the competition and matters related to the competition. We also wrote about national teams, as well as younger categories. We had the opportunity to be in at least one of all tournaments, so we got to know the teams and the situation within them quite well. Maybe even more than in previous seasons.
We understand that the domestic competition is very important and that we need to make it as interesting and uncertain as possible at all levels. With a high-quality competition, we also get teams that train more and prepare better. It is also necessary for players at all levels to play competitive rugby, for each team to have its own competition, of course, as much as possible. There are so many things to think about, and that’s exactly why we have to plan things in advance. Every serious organization has a long-term plan and a full calendar of activities at least one year in advance. Let’s take the example of only English clubs playing in the 7th level of the competition, how they plan tours and away games a year in advance. Everyone who plays amateur rugby must carefully and long-term plan their commitments, otherwise there will be disorganization, improvisation and chaos, which leads to a bad atmosphere and condition in any community or organization.
Serbian XVs nationa rugby team
As you already know, the past cycle of the national team did not go as we had hoped. We recorded three defeats against Moldova, Turkey and Bulgaria. In terms of quality, we definitely cannot agree with that state of affairs, but unfortunately it is the reality. It’s very difficult to form a national team when you don’t have a domestic rugby league competition, and we didn’t. The situation in domestic senior rugby is alarming because the number of players and the number of teams participating in the competition has drastically decreased. That’s not the most tragic thing, though. The most tragic thing is that no one has constant senior training in the club. Yes, you read that right. And that will only create a huge problem in the national team. We don’t have any plan to prevent it, it’s like we’re waiting for something to happen by itself.
Given that we had different lineups in all three games, we cannot talk about any consistency. Against Moldova and Bulgaria, our best team did not come out, but we showed that we can still deal with those teams in certain parts of the match. Against Moldova we were in the game until the 55th minute, and against Bulgaria we played the second half in a good rhythm. Against Turkey, we failed psychologically, when towards the end of the first part of the match we received an try, when the Turks took advantage of our mistake before their try ran 95 meters and scored points.
If in all three matches we could draw common rooms, they would say that we have a lot of problems in the scrum and outside. We lost our zest in the open game, we don’t play at a high tempo. In some positions, we do not have long-term playing solutions. The players seem to lack the necessary form to play rugby at this level. Here we are referring to domestic players, which is not surprising considering that they have no competition. It seems like we somehow managed to get 23 players in some games, instead of selecting them. Which is quite a disappointing situation for any national team.
How to make a good plan for the next cycle?
Set an objective. Before any good plan, we should set ourselves a goal, which is to define what we want to achieve. In sports, it’s either getting results or building a team to get results in the future. If we want to give more chances to young players, we have to subordinate everything to that. If we want a good result, then we must make the strongest possible team with all foreign players. But the point is that the players and coaching staff know what the goal is, so that they can all work together in that direction. The goal should be long-term, which is the only right thing.
Make good plan. In order to have a good team in competitions under the auspices of the European Rugby Federation, you need to have a very good operational plan. Also, you must have everything planned in advance, in order to improvise as little as possible during the implementation of the plan. For example, the new season starts this fall, and as soon as you know the opponents, you must already make a plan and program, how the national team will function. We would do it like this:
Two months before the start of the cycle, inform the rugby public about the dates of the matches. The schedule of matches is generally known by mid-July. And it is good that everyone knows when the matches are, as well as where the matches will be played in advance.
It is necessary to organize a test match. We need that more than anything. We need as many matches and as many tests as possible. The luck in the misfortune is that, due to the lack of domestic competitions, we will have a lot of dates when our selection could make good preparations and play one or two test matches.
Create a wider roster of 40 players. And finish it as early as possible. It is very important that amateur players know their obligations in advance so that they can plan their time and vacations. Many players have family, work and other commitments and want to plan ahead. On the other hand, players like to know what role they will play and what is expected of them. Gone are the days when you hold open training sessions and 60 players appear and you choose. Also, players from abroad need to make arrangements with their clubs regarding leave in time. If you tell someone two weeks in advance that they should come to the game, hardly anyone will have enough time to organize everything before the trip. Or maybe he will succeed now, but he won’t want to come next time because it’s too stressful, despite his great desire to play for Serbia.
Select young players. Young players should be included in every team, even if they don’t make the team. But it is necessary to work with them. And not to be ped holders. They should join the system and train equally with the national team in order to gain the necessary experience. You should talk to everyone and tell them what is expected of them. The worst thing we can say to a young player is to fight for a place with experienced players, it can negatively affect morale and self-confidence. As they say, let it be steeled. Mostly young people don’t want to be a part of it.
Provide good conditions for training. The national team must have excellent training conditions. It must not be allowed that the pitch is not at a high level, the dressing rooms must be clean and tidy. After all, it is the training of the Serbian national team, and we must do our best to have the best possible conditions there. That the equipment be new and of good quality, that the hourly rate be respected, that we be uniform in training with quality equipment.
Reduce the number of training sessions. The national team trains every day before the match. And that can be very tiring. The idea is to play with each other as much as possible, but practice says that it is not quite like that. First of all, because players spend a lot of time in training and that can affect freshness. The negative side is that players simply don’t come to training because they don’t want to train every day and risk injury. Then we don’t have the same team in training and we definitely can’t get along. Here is the training schedule we suggest when playing at home:
Sunday: Gathering of players, first training + video analysis
Monday: Free
Tuesday: Backs training, scrum free
Wednesday: Scrum training, backs free
Thursday: Joint training
Friday: Light training before the match
Saturday: Match
Sunday: Joint relaxation and video analysis
Make a game plan. Make actions and devise a game plan in advance, so that the players have time to study how we will play. This is a very important thing, because in theory everyone will know what is being played. The players will think about it and it will be much clearer in training what is expected of them. With that, the training sessions will be of higher quality, more intense and more interesting.
Organization around the match itself and a clear hourly rate. Make a time sheet on the day of the match. Determine exactly when the presentation of the jerseys will be, when we arrive on the field, when we start preparing for the game. And pass it all on to the players so that they are all aware of the hourly rate and know what is expected of them. That will make a lot of things easier.
Determining the values we want to express. A very important thing about playing for the national team is the very values we cherish. This is how the cult of the national team is formed. Rugby is a sport that prides itself on nurturing the values it stands for. If we want to get back on track, we have to get back to those values.
Equipment. It should be possible for fans as well as players to be able to buy the official equipment of the Serbian national team. When you look at the crowd at the matches we play at home, nobody in the crowd has any of the markings of the national rugby team. We have not seen that anywhere but here. Also, many players from abroad want to buy a Serbian jersey to have a memory of playing for the national team, but we don’t provide that for them. It leaves a very bitter taste. Maybe the local players are used to having nothing, but players coming from rugby backgrounds see it as a huge minus.
Conclusion. Imagine that two months before the start of the cycle you know where the matches will be played. Imagine that we play a friendly match before the competition, let’s say at home. Imagine knowing a month and a half before the start of the competition the list of players. Imagine that you are a player and that you have all the necessary information a month and a half before the start of the cycle, that you know the training plan, that you know the game plan, that you know the hourly rate on the day of the match or the hourly rate when traveling somewhere. Imagine you are a fan and you have a national team rugby jersey. Imagine when you can’t wait to go to a rugby match. We would stop there for now.
7s rugby national team
After several years, our rugby 7 team played well and achieved a good result. In the end, we took 3rd place in the tournament we played at home. Otherwise, unlike several tournaments that we played at the Kralj Petar Prvi stadium in Banjica, this tournament was organized at the Železnika stadium in the Belgrade suburb of the same name. And it was great. Everything was close, there was enough space, the field was perfect and the conditions for the audience were never better. The only drawback is that the field is quite far from the city center, so that certainly had an effect on the fact that a good part of the audience did not come.
However, that didn’t stop the Eagles from being the real ones. Finally, we had a very good selection that looked like a rugby 7s team this year. We had a few internationals who proved themselves in the right way. Kaspar Strugar is an experienced sevens player who has greatly improved the game of Serbia. Next to him, Bojan Čečarić, Janko Zemun Milinković and the excellent Antoan Jovović, who perfectly opened the game in the field, stood out. The local players were also at the level, but first of all we must mention the young Igor Gajić, who scored the most points even though he is still a junior.
How to make a good plan for the next period?
Planning ahead. We know we’re boring about it, but it’s the only way you can make a good team. One should be realistic and accordingly plan the ultimate goal that we want to achieve. The Olympic discipline in Rugby 7s must have a long-term program that has a long-term goal in mind. It is completely unrealistic that we can plan to be at the Olympics, but we can set a more realistic goal for ourselves.
The qualifications for the Olympic Games are such that only the best teams can qualify for them. At these Olympic Games, only two teams from Europe participated in the men’s competition, France and Ireland. There wasn’t even Great Britain. That’s how strong the competition is. As for us, we can only aim for the qualification cycle for Brisbane 2032, because we are late for the qualification cycle for Los Angeles 2028. And our goal should be to qualify for the European Games. We can qualify for the European Games by possibly winning the Trophy Division in rugby 7, which is a rank above us. To be able to do that, we need to get there first, spend a few years competing and build a team.
Building a wider player base. We need to build a wider base of players who specialize in rugby 7s. To do that we need to invest a lot of work and resources in them. We have to play international tournaments. We also have to organize international tournaments. IF we get to the level where we can select a team of 13 players from a wider list of 25 players who play rugby sevens at a high level, then we can count on a good result.
Play as much and as well as possible. We don’t have unlimited resources. But we should use them in the best possible way. We should travel to strong international tournaments, but we should also organize some here. The teams from the region have quite solid and strong teams and we should make the most of that. Perhaps the possibility of organizing the Balkaniade, where teams from the Balkans would take part, can be used. There, they would get an extremely strong tournament, which we would need very much as part of the preparations for the European Championship. Quality matches bring us enormous experience and challenges, and only in this way can we progress individually and as a team.
Conclusion: We must not drop a finally good team in rugby 7. We must pay special attention, patiently and smartly improve every segment around the national team. This team is one of the few bright spots in domestic rugby this season. And we have to make the most of it. The opportunities for improvement are enormous, we have an excellent starting position, and now it’s all up to us to finally start an upward trajectory with our plans, work and commitment.
Seniors competition
There was no official Rugby 15 competition this half season. The idea was to organize Rugby 10 tournaments to consolidate and prepare the teams for this autumn. Unfortunately, we got a totally different effect, a large number of players were not motivated to play rugby 10, so we could not see them in the competition this spring, which affected the performance of the national team. And not only was it not successful in terms of the number of players, but the number of teams that took part was also a failure. And an even bigger failure is not playing the tournament that was supposed to be held in Kruševac. Therefore, out of the planned 4 tournaments, we held only 3.
The first tournament was quite promising, as 5 teams took part. But soon after that, the dream of a more massive competition was dashed. However, a total of 6 teams took part in three tournaments. Rad and Loznica completed all three. Kruševac and Dinamo played twice. BRK Crvena Zvezda appeared only in the first tournament, as did Torpedo, who soon after switched to playing rugby 13 and no longer participated in senior competitions, but did in the younger categories. The Serbian Rugby 7 Championship was the only official competition. And we didn’t celebrate there either. 4 teams participated, and three teams participated in two tournaments.
This spring there was rugby 10 and rugby 7, so there wasn’t too much fun and competition for the first and second line players. These formats of rugby are more suited to faster players. Maybe that is one of the reasons why we had problems in the scrum in the matches of the national team.
How to make a good plan for the next period?
Bring back rugby 15 at all costs. We have no other choice. Even if we had a league with three clubs, we should play 15-a-side rugby. It takes the involvement of all relevant factors in rugby to make something like this happen. Vanity, politics and personal affinities should be put aside, because this is now a matter of survival. It is very possible to do positive things, you just need to make a good plan and be persistent. A small spark is enough for rugby to return to positive trends.
Create an interesting competition system. We must have an interesting competition. That is why it is important to force the final matches as much as possible and create situations where uncertain matches are played. Players need to be motivated. It is also the most difficult job, but it must be done.
It would be extremely interesting for us if Rad, Dinamo, Partizan or Zvezda played in the first league. Make it a three-round game with a grand finale at the end. It’s not too much of a stretch to play 3 or 4 rugby 15 matches in half a season. It’s a little, but at least it’s something to start with.
They would also form a B league where Vojvodina, Kruševac and Loznica would participate. We did not put Torpedo from Petrovac on Mlava because we are not sure that they will play rugby 15. But hypothetically, it would be an interesting league, where one round would be played in the half-season, with the final match at the end of the competition. All this is science fiction from the current perspective, but we should have a positive approach and move towards reestablishing the leagues. That is the only way to heal domestic rugby. They would make it mandatory to play a third half at the end of every game, where they would force socializing and a positive atmosphere. In this way, we would try to reawaken the spirit of rugby.
Massaging of senior teams. Clubs should be motivated to develop tactics to have as many players as possible in training. And we need to conduct the widest possible dialogue about this in order to reach the best possible solutions. We see the solution in several clear steps:
- Quality training conditions. It is necessary to make training conditions in the club as good as possible. Train with the highest quality equipment. Prepare the grounds. Try to secure evening training sessions.
- Quality and strong training. Do challenging workouts. To be constant. Players like it when they train well and with quality. Then they improve individually and the team is more competitive and improves as a team. And everyone will come to training sessions if they find it interesting and if they see that they have visions of progress and improvement.
- Hire good coaches. A bad coach can sometimes scatter the whole team if he is not up to the task. If the training is bad and uninteresting, no one wants to train. However, if he is a quality and good coach, he can turn the whole situation around in the club. The players will be happy to come to the training sessions and will enjoy them.
- Communication. Communicate with players. Talk to both current and former rugby players. Good communication is the basis of a healthy relationship. If the players who stopped training see a positive story and a great atmosphere again, with very high-quality training, then of course they will want to return to rugby. Who wouldn’t.
- Presentation by secondary schools and faculties. A large number of children in the third and fourth grade of high school do not practice any sports. They mostly trained when they were younger, then they stopped. It is an ideal opportunity for such athletes to become interested in rugby. The author of the text is one of those. If you’re worried about how someone new would manage in rugby, it’s very easy if they train in a positive environment. It’s a similar thing for students. Someone can always join the training.
- Travel and tours. Rugby is a team sport where socialization and society is always a very important aspect of the sport. There is no better way to get closer than organizing a trip. Think that’s not true? If you’ve ever been on a rugby trip, you’re sure to love talking about it. And when you go to, say, Vienna, play a quality match, tour the city a bit, spend time with your teammates, going out and socializing. Well, there is nothing better than that. They don’t force corporate employees to go to team building for nothing. That’s how morale rises and that’s how the collective gets closer.
An opportunity to play in the regional league. We should think in that direction. If it was a regional team in Serbia, or possibly one or two clubs, that would be ideal. We are aware that it is quite expensive, but trips and quality matches will motivate both players and coaches to dedicate themselves more. We may lose the first two or three seasons, but it will be a great move in the long run.
Conclusion: Anything positive we can do and make will be a big plus. We must not waste time, we must act as soon as possible. When the car is going downhill, it will not stop by itself. We must try our best to do our best to bring rugby back to where it was and take it to a higher level. We are able to do that. We should take advantage of all the chances and opportunities presented to us.
Youths rugby
Unlike the seniors, the youth drives did not fail as much. However, we must not fail to warn that the situation has drastically worsened compared to the past few years. First of all, we mean the number of teams and the number of players per team. Also, the domestic competition is monotonous and was quite uninteresting. After several seasons, it happened that one club won all the competitions in the younger categories, which is quite an alarming situation. Don’t think that this is because RK Rad won all the titles, but because the competition is very weak. And when there is weak competition, then there is no progress.
For youth, the Cup is played in the spring part of the season, and the Championship in the fall part of the season. Keep in mind that the categorization of players changes on September 1st, so in fact different age groups participate in the same competitions during the season. Instead of counting the season the same when the years change. A little illogical, but it is what it is.
Of the national selections, we only had the performance of the junior U18 national team in rugby 7, which took place last week in Zabka, Poland, a small town near Warsaw. We didn’t celebrate too much, we won two and lost three. Which in total was enough for fourth place in the Trophy 2 group, which is the lowest rank of the competition. Which means that only two national teams in Europe are worse than us. Not very good data.
Although we secretly hoped that a new team could eventually appear, or that a new club would be founded after the World Cup, everything turned upside down for us. It’s as if interest in rugby has waned quite a bit. By far the most positive thing that happened is the return of Loznica to the map of younger categories. And what kind. They formed a junior team that took part in 3 out of 4 tournaments. And somehow saved the U18 competition from ruin. A negative thing is the disappearance of Kruševac from the competition of younger categories, after several seasons. Also, RK Čelik from Zenica stopped coming to our tournaments, which further reduced the quality.
Unlike previous years, the clubs started to organize trips to international tournaments, which is a really great move. And we hope that in the future there will be even more opportunities for ours to participate in both friendly and competitive competitions. Rad took part in the regional rugby 7 league, which is played at the junior level, where they currently occupy the first place.
In the following part of the text, we will refer to all official competitions in younger categories, both club and representative. The only thing we have to guard against is that we don’t have too much information about the Rugby 7 regional league. So we didn’t even post it on our website as a separate competition. As for domestic competitions, only on our website you can know who participated as well as all the results and tables, which you cannot see publicly anywhere else.
U18 national team of Serbia
As we have already mentioned, in the Trophy 2 group we took fourth place in the final standings. It’s definitely not the result we wanted, and we don’t think it’s an objective result either, because we’re at a higher level in terms of quality. As a reminder, the tournament took place on July 12 and 13 in Zabka, Poland. Based on the results of last year, the European Rugby Federation divided the teams in the Trophy group into two qualitative competitions. We were placed in the Trophy 2 group, where there were a total of 6 teams: Austria, Monaco, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary. Before the tournament itself, we ranked us and the Hungarians as favorites. We made a big mistake, because we took 4th place and the Hungarians took 5th place in the end. It is very ungrateful to forecast the results in the younger categories because the teams change with the years. So we believe that most of the teams in the Trophy 2 group showed far more than some teams in the Trophy 1 group. In the article announcing the competition, we also wrote our expectations, which you can read here.
We did not publish an article related to the analysis of the results of our junior national team, so here we will briefly try to list the problems and give a solution, so that we can move towards better games and results. After all, this is how we will do and systematize each section in competitions for young people.
Unlike last season, we had a very strong and experienced team. Although we have been playing rugby sevens in junior competitions for a number of seasons, we haven’t really spread the game like the sevens teams do. We played fast and at a high tempo, but we were looking for more contact than space. We didn’t adapt well to the rules, so we lost a lot of balls. However, we were competitive in every game, even in the first match, which we unfortunately lost to Andorra 17-0. We were strong and convincing against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary. Against Monaco we had our chances, led for a good part of the match and in the end lost by one try. The Austrians were better than us, although in the finish we threatened to completely get back into the match, but we didn’t have the strength. After all, we cannot be dissatisfied. We need to accept the reality that we didn’t have too many players we could count on on the full list before the selection. In the end, of the 13 players who went to the competition, 12 were from Rad, while one was from Dinamo.
How to make a good plan for the next year?
First of all, you need to make a plan in advance. We should first see what we want to achieve with the only youth national team we have. Since we have not participated in rugby 15 international competitions for years. We need to have a plan of what we need to do in September, and already at the beginning of the year to know the exact dates of all the activities we want to implement. From the point of view of the organization we currently have, it would be a precedent, because we plan very little in advance. And that is the key to everything. We need a plan and a goal, what we want to achieve with our plan.
Participation and organization of preparatory tournaments. Ours lacks experience, we miss seeing how other teams play. We must not allow ourselves to send a team without a preparatory tournament to go to a major competition again. We need that experience, we need to feel how other teams play, to adapt, to know how to play with them. In our opinion, it is ideal to have two preparatory tournaments. One that they would go to in May or early June, to some major international event, in Italy or France. While others, we could organize two or three weeks before the start of the competition, where we could invite countries from the region. Such a tournament would be good for everyone to get in shape before the official competition.
Good communication. Here, above all, we mean communication with the players, as well as with everyone who is interested in rugby in Serbia. Players need to know what responsibilities await them during the season so that they can organize their time. We cannot surprise them with a late call to the training camp or with the national team’s work plan. We don’t see why it couldn’t be done already on February 1, before the start of the season. Publish a list of about 30 candidates for the national team. Send everyone a letter, where they know in advance when the trainings are, when they go to the preparatory tournaments, when they go to the training camp, when and where the trainings are. Who is all in the coaching staff?
Foreign players. It might not be bad to contact and scout quality players who would try in the younger categories and make a good base later for the senior team. It doesn’t have to be a big number, let’s say there are two or three players on the wider list. That would further raise the quality of our players and our team. We will mention only some players from abroad who played for national teams in younger categories: Janko Zemun Milinković, Bojan Čečarić, Uroš Pucar and others.
Conclusion: Imagine that on February 1, 2025, we know exactly which players are on the extended list, who will all come from abroad, when our trainings are, when the preparatory tournaments are, when we go to the training camp and when we go to competition and who is all in the coaching staff. Not only would they raise the general level of the organization, but they would also help the players a lot. Imagine the parents of our rugby players who would have the opportunity to plan in advance their obligations as well as the obligations of their children.
When you plan ahead, of course there will be unforeseen circumstances. Anything can happen. However, when you have planned everything in advance, you solve unforeseen circumstances on the fly and stick to the plan. There is not too much improvisation. When you create this kind of organization, it is a system that can bring a lot of benefits to Serbian rugby in the long run.
U18s Serbian Cup
This spring, the U18 juniors played the Serbian Cup in rugby 7. We don’t remember the last time rugby 15 was played in the junior competition, at least if it was an official competition. As far as our memory serves, it was maybe even when the year 2002 was playing. Which was about 4 years ago. And even then, tournaments were played. Rather, let’s return to the present. The situation is such that a total of 4 teams participated in the competition, together with Čelik from Zenica, who only participated in the first tournament. From our teams, Rad and Dinamo performed in all four tournaments and Loznica in three.
There was no uncertainty in the competition, Rad was convincingly first, Dinamo convincingly second and Loznica third. The people of Belgrade had a complete junior team, and they can easily assemble a team that would play rugby 15. Dinamo had a large number of cadets and only a few juniors in the team. The Loznica team is made up of players who played in the cadets and pioneers a few years ago and a few new guys who are just gaining experience.
In the junior competition, players born in 2005 had the right to perform.
U18s year, as well as players born in 2007 with the special permission of their parents. What’s interesting is that we haven’t had the opportunity too many times to see the players who were in 2005. .
Compared to previous years, we lost several clubs that regularly had U18 juniors in the competition. First of all, we are thinking of Borac from Starčevo, Kruševac, BRK Crvena Zvezda and Vršac, which had competitive teams in the last few seasons.
How to make a good plan for the next season?
Create a good competition system. We would absolutely cut it and bring rugby 15 back into the game. They would introduce several newspapers there, of course. It would not be realistic for the teams to have enough players to play rugby 15, so they would follow the example of the Czech Republic or our example as we used to play more than 20 years ago. In the past, three age groups played in the junior competition. If they changed it here, the players from the classes of 2005, 2006 and 2007 would be juniors, while the players from the class of 2008 would have the right to play. In that large number of players, we would be able to form teams capable of taking out the Rugby 15 competition. We wouldn’t even touch the Rugby 7 competition, they would just reduce it to two tournaments instead of four.
In rugby 15, the number of matches that is optimal for the registered teams would be played. And even if two teams applied, they would force such a league.
Final weekend. Of course, they would bring back the final weekend, where the match would decide who will win the title. The teams would be preparing for that match. They would train for that match. This is what our rugby lacks. It is the path to healing.
Presentation by schools. It may sound strange, but we think that every club should also do a presentation for juniors in schools. Firstly, there would certainly be many former athletes who would try to coach rugby. Second, rugby is a collective social phenomenon and anyone who wants to have a good quality time, socialize and get physical activity is more than welcome. Also, when 5-6 new players come to a team where there are a lot of experienced ones, they will adapt much faster and better than if the team is completely new.
Serbian national team in rugby 15. We have been trumpeting for several years that we could organize several test matches during the year with teams from the region. We do some of those things. Let’s say we play with the Bulgarians every year for the second or third year in a row. Which is a great thing. We should continue in that direction. But let’s say that we play that game every year and that the winner wins the Balkan Trophy for that year. Let it be a tradition. We can also have such meetings with the Hungarians, let’s say we call that match the Pannonia Cup. We can organize something similar with Austria and call it the Danube Cup. Or with Croatia, or with any team that wants to develop younger categories in that way.
U16 Serbian Cup
A very rare competition that was interesting until the last tournament, where the winner of the Serbian Cup was decided. This is exactly what we need, for the teams to get ready and prepare for competitions. That they train motivated and progress from training to training. Three teams participated in the competition: Rad, Dinamo and Dorćol. Maybe it doesn’t seem like a positive trend, whoever followed the matches could testify to the kind of rugby that was played. Dinamo and Rad fought for first place, while Dorćol slowly but surely reduced the difference. What is pleasing is that the teams are quite full with the number of players, where rugby 15 could be played comfortably.
A total of 4 tournaments were played. All three teams participated in all tournaments. Which is a fantastic thing. Compared to previous years, we lost several stable teams that no longer have training or teams in that age category. However, these three teams train regularly and very well. They have had several international activities, the only thing they lack is quality competition. Here we mean the grand final, because it was very tense and exciting in the game of the last tournament when the winner was decided. It could have been a rugby 15 game that would have lasted 60 minutes. First of all, rugby would win here.
As of September 1, the years are changing, and if nothing changes, the cadets should be players born in 2008. , year, while players born in 2010 have the right to perform with a special permit. Rad was the best in the Serbian Cup this spring, but we’ll see if he manages to keep that title now in the fall. Dinamo will have a large number of players in 2008 and will definitely be favorites. However, during the season Pančevci were without several players. We don’t think it’s a very bright decision to stop doing something you’re very good at. Well, we’re sure it’s better to play games and wander the streets in sheer boredom than to play sports and compete. It will be especially interesting to see how Dorćolci will look, who according to the announcements are waiting for a very intense preparation period. Honestly, we can’t wait to see what the teams will look like, how far they’ve progressed and what shape they’ll be in.
How to make a good plan for the next season?
Playing rugby 15. Quite simply. To make a competition in rugby 15. To play everyone with everyone plus a grand final at the end. Each of the teams deserves to play 60-minute matches, where they would have time to show everything they know and can do. Where players would have opportunities to progress. Everyone would get 4, with one final and 5 games.
Serbian championship in rugby 7. Create a competition in rugby 7, where more teams would be actively involved in addition to this 3. Create one or possibly two tournaments. We are more for one. We can also declare that week as an international tournament, so we can invite some teams from abroad. Let’s say we gather 8 teams and get a very interesting one-day tournament where each team would have 4 games.
Presentation by secondary schools. Obliged to insert presentations by schools. If 5 new players come to each club after the presentations, it is a fantastic success. We have to work on gaining weight non-stop, without relaxing. We have to understand that.
Contacting players who have stopped training. Contact old players who have stopped training. One message or call can separate you from another player on the team. Why not. Every attempt is good.
U14s Serbian Cup
Fantastic competition. At the beginning of the competition, as many as three teams highlighted their candidacy for winning the Cup. Zvezda won the first tournament, Dinamo the second and Rad the last two. We almost didn’t have a competition where three teams won a tournament each. However, in the end, the people from Belgrade were the best. As many as 7 teams took part in at least one tournament.
The good thing about the pioneers is that some great rugby was played. But he would have played better if the dimensions of the field were a little bigger, because the children are huge for such a shortened field. It’s like we want to direct them to contact instead of space, which is a pretty old-fashioned way of playing. There are six-foot-two, 100-pound guys crashing into guys who are the same size in a very small space. It has to be solved urgently. I guess we are intelligent enough to figure that out.
Gotta go to the rugby 15. U14 pioneers play rugby 10 on a shortened pitch. However, one should be very careful if they were to switch to rugby 15. And it is necessary to do 6 months of preparation. We have written an article on this topic and have already given a detailed plan, what needs to be done. Well, who didn’t hate reading this far, we recommend our article from a few months ago.
Divide the competition into A and B league. We have several clubs that are very good and several clubs that are not. And everyone should play matches with teams that are close in terms of quality. Imagine you make a new team, come to the tournament and Dinamo beat you 10-0 because they already have experienced and huge players. That is why the teams should be separated by quality and everyone should play rugby at their own level. Of course, if you have more teams in the tournament and where such a system can be made.
Competition system. They would leave this autumn to play as it has been played so far. They would just add a final weekend where the games would be played. They would introduce another interesting thing. When the championship of Belgrade or Vojvodina is played, they would make a rugby 15 game that the selections of Belgrade would play against Vojvodina, for example.
Presentations by Primary Schools. Absolute obligation. Go in and visit as many schools as possible. Think about other types of presentations. Maybe set up a counter in the city center or in the centers of settlements and hand out leaflets. Coupled with an aggressive approach on social media, success can come.
U12s Serbian Cup
It was very interesting in the rooster competition last half-season. As many as 7 teams took part, while 4 teams participated in all tournaments. And there were a total of 4 of them. In the end, Rad won the Cup with the maximum number of points. Second place in the final ranking was taken by the RAS Smederevo team. By the way, RAS is the abbreviation of the Rugby Academy of Serbia, that is, the development project of the Rugby Union of Serbia to start a club in new locations, which would initially be under the auspices of the Academy until the conditions for the formation of the club are created. The third place was taken by the Torpedo roosters, who would have easily been second if they had played in all tournaments, they also played very interesting matches with Rad. Dinamo and Dorćol took 4th and 5th place at the end, while Borac from Starčevo and Žarkovo were 6th and 7th at the end. We must say that very good rugby was played. That everyone has regular training and that they have shown both individual and collective play.
How to make a good plan for the next season?
Add another tournament. Four tournaments pleased the roosters, but we believe that one more tournament should be added to the calendar. He has to play as much as possible so that we can progress. It could be, say, the final weekend where 40-minute matches would be played. Let’s say the fifth and sixth placed at the end of the regular season play for 5. place. The third-placed and fourth-placed players play for 3. place. And the two first-placed teams to play for first place. Each team would fight for a small trophy, while the defeated teams would also receive a trophy or a plaque. Medals would be awarded for first, second and third place.
The point is to make a party and make it interesting, and to play whole games, among other things. The field should be adequately marked and everything should be a sign of rugby. What a rugby holiday that would be and what an image it would send to the rugby community and parents.
Think about dividing the competition in the U12 and U10 tournaments. Since U12 is the smallest category that we have, and some of the clubs brought very young children, instead of preventing those children from playing or letting them play, we propose to create a competition for the little ones. Let the clubs be in the ranking for U12, but let them play for, say, 7th and 8th place. Children aged 9 and under should not be mixed with children aged 12. Now everyone will be shocked, how can it be like this, but that is the situation on the field, we have to design the competition and adapt it to reality if we want to keep the children in rugby.
Aggressive presentation in schools. Don’t stop with presentations. Even if you get a few new members. You can’t expect 20-30 new ones to come every time, that’s unrealistic. You have to be persistent and work. It would be ideal if there were 20-25 U12 roosters in the group, and that requires serious planning and implementation.
Those who persevered with reading deserve a short conclusion
The key to stopping rugby’s decline lies in three things, sound communication, long-term planning and proper staffing. A very simple thing. But very difficult to implement in our conditions.