Hampshire RFU are delighted to announce details of our new and improved county wide Prop Idol project. This successful Hampshure RFU initiative has been enhanced by the full backing of Neal Hatley from London Irish and the support of Testway Housing.

Neal is the Academy Manager at London Irish and he will be delivering the player education sessions. He is a very experienced coach and player who has had a great deal of experience as a premiership and International prop. He will also be bringing some of the London Irish props to events to talk to the players and share their experiences

The programme is aimed specifically at players in the U13/U14 boys’ age groups and U15/U18 girls' age groups.

There will be 4 Prop Idol heats across the county and a final which will be held at the London Irish training ground at Sunbury as a warm up before the London Irish A v Wasps A game.

Each event will run from 7.00pm – 9.00pm and the schedule of these events is set out below

November 2nd 2009   Heat 1 at Andover RFC
January 18th 2010     Heat 2 at Ellingham and Ringwood RFC
February 8th 2010      Heat 3 at Aldershot and Fleet RFC 
March 8th 2010          Heat 4 at US Portsmouth RFC
March 29th 2010        Finals at Sunbury – London Irish A v Wasps A
 

The Prop Idol competition will give players an idea of what is required to play in the scrum and test the technical ability and physical attributes of the players. Please note that players do not have to be existing ‘Front Rowers’ just be keen to have a go. The techniques taught are valid for all aspects of the contact game - rucking, mauling, tackling - not just front row and scrummaging.

In last year's competition, Aaron Watkins of the U14s progressed to the final as did Charlie Hibbert and Tom Bugler of the U13s.  Charlie's performance caught the eye of Neal Hatley in particular and he was then invited to attend London Irish bronze group training.

If you wish to take part please contact David Bugler, the Head Coach of U14s and a Front Row Mentor who has coached at the competition for the past 3 seasons.  He will provide you with an application form for you to complete and return to Pat Jenner pat.jenner@hants.gov.uk as soon as possible but no later than two weeks prior to the competition.