Trials and Selection in Youth Rugby: We’re All On the Same Side
If you’ve got a child in U15–U17 rugby, you’ll know that trials can feel intense. For players, it’s a mix of excitement and nerves. For parents, it’s pride sitting alongside worry. And for academy coaches, it’s the pressure of making big decisions about a large number of players in a very short window.
My view is straightforward: selection is not easy, but almost everyone involved is genuinely trying to do the right thing for the players. The real opportunity here is not to attack the system, but to understand it better, so that young players and parents can navigate it in a healthier, more constructive way.
What Academies Are Really Trying To Do
I’ve lost count of the conversations I’ve heard in parent groups about who they think will end up with professional contracts. On the outside, it’s easy to assume it will be the player who scores the most tries, makes the biggest tackles, or has the best social media highlights!
Inside the academy, the picture is much more complex. Coaches are trying to balance long‑term development with short‑term competition. They’re working with players who are at very different stages of physical and emotional maturation between 14 and 18. They have to deal with squad size limits and positional needs in the men’s squad, thinking not just about the current group but how many senior players already occupy that role and whether a young player’s pathway might be blocked. On top of all that, they are managing the realities of staff numbers and time.
Layer onto this the RFU’s player‑centred, development‑driven philosophy, and you end up with coaches who are being asked to look beyond today’s try‑scorers to the players who have genuine potential to grow. The question is not simply, “Are they the best player at 18?” but “Can they go on to play 100–200 games for their club?” When you consider that trials at 15 often involve the largest number of players being assessed, and the time available to make those decisions is limited, you start to see why choosing the right players is anything but straightforward. So yes, selection can sometimes feel harsh or confusing from the outside. But most coaches are making tough calls under real constraints, not looking for excuses to shut doors on kids.
Players: How To Show The Coaches What They Want
For players, the ones who tend to handle trials best are those who stop treating them like auditions and start treating them like a normal rugby match, just with a little more focus. At U15–U17, selectors are usually looking for qualities that don’t always show up clearly on a scoresheet: consistent effort rather than occasional big moments, game understanding and decision‑making, communication and support play, and how a player responds after a mistake. In practice, that means doing the basics well, again and again. It means staying involved when you don’t have the ball, using your voice to talk, organise and encourage, and recovering quickly from errors instead of disappearing or hiding. You can’t control who ends up being selected. You can absolutely control what sort of player they see. If you leave a trial knowing you worked hard, stayed connected to your team, and kept going when it was tough, you’ve done your job, whatever the final list says.
Parents: Be Your Child’s Support, Not Another Coach
For parents, the role is different but equally crucial. This is the part I feel most strongly about. Loud groans at every mistake, coaching your child from the touchline, or riding the emotional roller coaster of every moment can really affect how your child experiences the game. Similarly, challenging coaches, questioning decisions, or blaming other players may feel like support in the moment, but it can unintentionally turn every setback into someone else’s fault, make selection the sole measure of “success,” and add pressure every time your child pulls on a shirt. Deselection hurts as well; it can impact confidence, identity and friendships, and it often hits parents just as hard as players.
There is a different way to approach it. Start by saying well done and letting the emotion of the game settle before having a deeper conversation. Acknowledge the feeling: “It’s OK to be upset.” Hold onto perspective: “This is one decision at one point in time.” Then gently shift the focus: “What can we learn from this?” You don’t have to agree with every selection to help your child grow through the experience rather than be defined by it. When parents take this stance, they are much more likely to find themselves aligned with academies, both working to support the same young person.
Selection Is A Moment, Development Is A Journey
Underneath all of this sits one core idea: selection is a moment, development is a journey. Being picked or not picked at 15 is just one step along the way. Late developers, players who respond well after being cut, and those who stay curious and coachable often move beyond some of the early stars.
Academies are trying to identify and support that sort of potential, not simply reward whoever looks best today.
Parents are trying to protect their children.
Players are trying to show what they can do.
When we recognise that we are all, in different roles, working towards the same goal, which is keeping young people in the game, healthy, and growing, the conversation around trials becomes far more constructive.
If your child is going through trials this season, perhaps the most powerful message you can give them is also the simplest: “This doesn’t decide your future. But how you respond might.”