Having trained since February, some players will finally get to reap what they have sown in Invercargill today.
When Covid-19 hit, more than 75 players, some of them part of the Otago Mitre 10 Cup wider training group, were also training to get ready for tournaments at the end of the year.
Prospective Mitre 10 Cup and Otago development team players, along with a large contingent of Otago under-19 candidates, were starting programmes to get match-fit for the business end of the season.
Then the lockdown came and all the planning and work went out the window.
New Zealand Rugby quickly canned the national under-19 tournament in Taupo, and all representative programmes below Mitre 10 Cup were cancelled.
But players did not get out of shape and as soon as the country got back to Alert Level 1, programmes were increased again and training as a group recommenced.
Otago Rugby Football Union player development manager Paul Galland said the players had continued to train and the union had managed to organise some games to be played over the next few weeks.
The games will have meaning. The Otago development players may not be far away from getting picked up by the senior Otago side, while there will be eyes on under-19 players as a national under-20 side will be picked next year for the world junior championships, if they go ahead.
Galland said it had been a long time training so it was good to get some game time. It was only one week after the club finals but he said there was not a long window to play because of university exams.
The first game will take place at Oreti today against Southland B and Southland under-19.
The same sides will then take on each other at Logan Park next Saturday.
The following week, Canterbury will be the opposition at Pleasant Point.
The final game has been tentatively scheduled to take place on October 17 with Otago development taking on Otago under-19.
The Otago under-19 team will be coached by Ryan Bambry and Will Henry. John Sherratt, Tumua Ioane and Uili Kolofai will coach the Otago development side.
