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	Friday February 11, 2011
	Dear Tricia,
	Welome to February's CB newsletter.
	2011-12 CB Plans
	Many thanks to the 27 County Constituent Bodies who have submitted their plans by the deadline.  The submitted plans were reviewed by the panel on February 9 and 10. Feedback will be given to CBs shortly.
	Youth Structured Season
	At the National CB Rugby Development Partnership and County Schools’ Union’s Conference in January, concern was raised over the “windows for representative rugby” and how they impacted on the provision of CB, club and school rugby. Representatives from CBs and Schools Unions asked me to liaise with the Youth Structured Season Task Group and Coach & Player Development Department to identify some changes that could take place to ease the concerns, but which did not adversely affect the playing of rugby within schools and clubs. I am pleased to announce that we have found a short term solution for the 2011/12 season which can be downloaded here. There are significant challenges in trying to meet all stakeholders’ demands and we must all accept this as the final version for 2011/12. For the future, we believe the Youth Structured Season would benefit from a full review involving all stakeholders representing clubs, schools, CBs and the national representative programmes. It is imperative that we develop a season structure that puts the interests of our young players first. To this end, a national YSS conference will take place on June 11/12 of this year to develop a new template which will satisfy the broader interests of the game and the player from season 2012/13 onwards. An invitation list is currently being drawn up and further details will be published by the end of February. Rob Udwin Chairman Community Game Board
	Line-Out Lifting at CB U15s
	Some CBs sought clarification as to the experimental law variation - lifting in the line-out - for Under 15s involved in CB representative rugby. The experiment was introduced in the 2008/09 season and was agreed to run over a two year period. With only a few CB U15 games in the season, it was recognised that coaches, rather than develop locks to jump and props to support them, in the majority of cases studied, supported the lightest and slimmest player to jump to guarantee winning the ball. Following the two year experiment it was felt that players in CB Under 16s had not significantly benefited from early introduction to support in the lineout at U15 and if the highly qualified CB coaches were reluctant to utilise the appropriate jumper then the RFU Law variations at U13-15 prohibiting support in the lines-out would be retained for the benefit of all players. This was agreed by Laws Sub-Committee and School & Youth Governance hence there is no reference in RFU Regulation 15 to any dispensation for CB to use support in the lineout at U15.  Therefore, line-out lifting at Under 15 at all levels is not permitted and should cease forthwith.
	Students RFU Strategic Plan
	Following an in depth consultation with staff and volunteers from the RFU, CB colleagues and the university sector, the SRFU is pleased to launch its SRFU plan for developing more high quality opportunities for students. Read the SRDU Strategic Plan Letter detailing how the SRFU proposes to work with all partners over the coming months to deliver this offer over the next 2-3 years.
	Competitions Contacts
	Following Billy Clark’s move to Gloucester Rugby, queries about RFU competitions will be handled by the following people: Daily Mail RBS SarahBailey@rfu.com RFU AASE League TomPrice@rfu.com National U17 Competition TomBrewis@rfu.com National U20 Competition CathyBlishen@rfu.com For any other competitions or regulations queries please contact ChrisBurns@rfu.com
	President's XV Awards
	Thank you everyone who nominated teams of volunteers for this year’s President’s XV awards supported by QBE. We received over 270 nominations, just short of last year’s record.  Congratulations to Eastern Counties who submitted the most nominations. The standard is once again very high, giving the panel a tough job when they meet later this month. Watch out for the announcement of the winners!
	If you have any 'hot topics', queries or feedback about this communication, please contact me. Kind regards,   Carole Carole Thelwall-Jones Volunteer Manager Email: carolethelwall-jones@rfu.com

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