Six Central West schools signed up for Jakiya Whitfeld Cup

The inaugural schoolgirls' rugby 7s tournament will kick off at Kinross on March 11, with six schools from across the Central West signed up to take part in the four week event.

Central West Rugby CEO and organiser of this initiative, Matt Tink, said it had been a long time coming.

"We are hoping to increase the profile of girls 7s over the next few years so this is our initial dive into it," he said.

"Getting schoolgirls' 7s off the ground has been important to the schools and Central West Rugby. COVID interrupted our plans last year but we are ready to go now."

The call was put out to all schools in the zone late last year and a total of six took up the opportunity to field teams in either under 14s, 16s, 18s or all three.

"There were a number of schools who were keen but with a crowded curriculum they couldn't quite make it work," Tink added.

"This year we have six schools confirmed who will enter teams in the U14, U16 and U18 age groups. We are very keen to build this in the coming years, but six schools is a great start."

Those who decided to take up the challenge in 2022 were Kinross, Orange Anglican Grammar, James Sheahan, MacKillop Bathurst, Scots All Saints Bathurst and Forbes Redbend who will participate from round two onwards.

A student and player on Kinross' team, Medway looked forward to the new experience.

"It's really good that finally everyone gets to play and be able to try a new sport, something that's never been done before at Kinross. Everyone is pretty excited," she said.

"It's also good for the younger kids to learn early so hopefully Kinross keeps going along with it and they can play during their whole time at Kinross."

Neither Clarke nor Medway have played the sport before, which is exactly why the former was so excited for Friday afternoon.

"Especially for the girls, it's really good experience to actually have a go," Clarke said.

"Most of us have just watched the boys play and now we get to have a try."

Tink pointed to the trophy's name-sake as a good example of how far the sport could take people.

"Just three years ago Jakiya was a schoolgirl playing in the Westfund Ferguson Cup and now she is a fully professional rugby 7s player playing rugby all over the world," he added.

"It seemed fitting to name the tournament after her and she is fully supportive of what we are doing."

The first games will get underway at 4pm and finish at roughly 5.30pm.

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