The age-group has always been something of an afterthought by most unions, as the emphasis goes on the colts age-group and development teams.
But the New Zealand Rugby Union decided the under-19 age group needed more resources and has introduced a national tournament to be played in Taupo next month.
The tournament, which will be played from September 28-October 4, will have 16 teams from around New Zealand.
A team from each of the ITM Cup unions, a second team from Auckland and a representative team from the Heartland unions will make up the 16 teams.
The Otago team will be coached by Barry Stevens and Jason Macdonald.
Stevens said the side had been training for five weeks, but it had been difficult to get the players all together as the club season was still going.
But with the colts competition finishing this week trainings would increase.
The side had more than a dozen players who played premier club rugby, including the likes of University backs Gavin Stark and Fletcher Smith, Dunedin first five-eighth Greg Dyer and Southern hooker Ricki Riccitelli.
Stevens has a squad of 32 but that is likely to be trimmed down to 25 for the tournament.
A captain has yet to be named.
The team will play warm-up games against Otago Maori and the Sassenachs Colts.
The 16 teams have been split into four regions and will play against each other before heading to Taupo.
Otago will take on Southland in Invercargill on August 30 and then play Tasman in Christchurch on September 6.
It will finish the regional round with a match against Canterbury in Dunedin on September 20.
From those games around the country, a top eight and bottom eight will be found for the tournament in Taupo.
While in Taupo the players will receive coaching and seminars by specialist NZRU staff.
The tournament in Taupo will have games on the Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Players will have the chance to impress and be in the running for next year's New Zealand under-20 squad.
