The 2021 Rebels Shield has officially been launched.
Captains and teachers from competing schools launched the inaugural event at the Melbourne Rebels Trans-Tasman clash against The Blues at AAMI Park on Saturday May 15.
The inaugural Rebels Shield is an exciting new interschool midweek rugby competition where both U16 boys and girls teams from selected schools will compete.
Round 1 of the Rebel Shield will kick off 4 August, with finals scheduled for the 1 September.
Rugby Victoria CEO Chris Evans is proud to launch the historic competition.
“We are thrilled to be launching the Rebels Shield in 2021,” Evans said.
“The competition will be the first of its kind in Victoria. There is a great opportunity to grow our game through the Government School sector and we can’t wait for the competition to commence in Term 3.”
“I would like thank the inaugural participating Schools, Fountain Gate SC, Hampton Park SC, The Grange and Melton SC”.
The Grange P-12 College Teacher Trish O’Neil is counting down the days until her students can play in the tournament.
“It’s a great opportunity to play 15 and 10 a side Rugby Union in Victoria,” she said.
“The players are really excited and it means a lot to them.”
“We can’t wait to play on our newly developed field, host schools and have a crowd of home supporters at The Grange cheering on our teams.”
According to Rugby Victoria Game Development Manager Samantha Homewood, the Rebels Shield will give equal opportunity across Victoria to support and grow Rugby in schools.
“The Rebels Shield will only further develop our up-and-coming rugby players and provide an opportunity for more regular competitive rugby and better engagement with our clubs,” she said.
“In its first year we have all four schools entering U16 boys and girls team. It’s s exciting to be able to provide equal opportunity of exposure and competition for our young rugby players.”
The four school competition will compete for the Rebels Shield across 5 weeks, 3 round robin games and a 2 week finals series.
