Review: First bio-banding for U16s at regional festival at Dalziel RFC

For the U16 selection, maturation data was used to group players into a less mature and more mature team within their regions.

Learn more about Scottish Rugby’s bio-banding pilot

The U18 matches featured a number of players making their first regional academy festival appearance of the season.

A Scotland U18 development camp in Ireland meant several players were unavailable for their region, exposing new players to high-level regional rugby.

Athletic Development Manager Andy Boyd said: “Saturday provided another opportunity for the players to be challenged at regional level, but under slightly different parameters. It was an excellent starting point for our bio-banding work. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but it has started some great conversations between players, parents and coaches.

“Our primary objective through the summer has been about stretching players in the right ways and having a closer look at who’s putting their hand up. The next stage for these young players will be a national training day on Monday 12 August where we’ll bring together a selection of the most talented players for an intense day of skills and education. We feel the additional information from the alternative format will add to the conversations we are already having as a coaching group.

“The wider use of growth and maturation data across the youth and school game has already gotten underway, with additional changes to our age banding policies this season. Our new BAUSport device will support this, and is now available for wider use. We are committed to driving education across the wider Scottish game, for the benefits of all young players.”

To view the team selections from the weekend, click HERE.