The National Capital District Rugby Union Association is hosting the first Tag Rugby Program on the 23rd of September 2023 which will be held at the Murray Barracks Oval from 7:45am – 8:30am. Age categories are 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12 and 13-16 years of age. Participant Fees are K2 and required to come with a Parent or Guardian. Caretaker President Cybele Wari stated that NCDRU first introduced Tag Rugby to their community in 2018 when the association identified a huge development gap in PNG’s player pathways and facilitating this junior program was to fill this gap. “We were the first Provincial Union to facilitate a junior tag rugby program at the local competition level and outside of the PNGRU School rugby and GIR programs.” “It was a very successful program, with close to a hundred participants and their parents attending for seven consecutive weekends.” “A good number of parents and children were asking us to run full-on contact matches for them after the program ended.” Tag Rugby, unlike rugby Union or League also known as flag rugby, is a non-contact team game in which each player wears a belt or shorts that have two Velcro patches attached. The Velcro patches are removed to count as a tackle and players are not allowed to kick the ball during tag rugby. Wari stated that as an Association it was their duty to be proactive in the development agenda of the code and to create platforms for our people both young and old to enter the game, and then ascend in the game if they aspired to. She shared that statistically, by the time a New Zealand player makes it to the All-Blacks team, that player will have had a minimum of 200-300 matches under their belt. For the Fijians, it’s approximately 100 games per player, and increasing, because of their junior program which is growing by the day. “In the case of PNG, most of our players have not even played half of those numbers.” “This is because many join the sport when they are already adults, and thus there is a huge disparity in the game experience and knowledge compared to the leading countries.” Meanwhile Wari strongly believes that junior rugby is critical to the development agenda for PNG and is what motivates NCDRU to heavily invest in this demographic. “If this is what begins their journey to excellence in the sport, then we have done a good thing for both the individual and the code.” “Aside from this, the NCDRU has always promoted inclusive rugby, it is important to us that our children are given the opportunity to have their time on the field to learn rugby skills, make new friends, and have lots of fun.”