Philosophy

With a few years of rugby experience behind them, the U18 program shifts the emphasis from player development onto teamwork; coordinating the attack and defensive responses amongst all players.  There are three key areas that become the focus for development, as these abilities are required to be competitive as players enter senior rugby:

1.       Execution & Strategy – transition from gameplay focused on physicality and determination to analyzing and exploiting opportunities as they appear throughout a game.

2.       Tactics – developing the discipline to follow a game plan, and integrating the components of that plan into the run of play.

3.       Decision making – the ability to adapt on the fly and make appropriate decisions in response to the skills and game-plan of the opposition during the course of the game.

The U18s start to integrate more with the senior club players during training sessions to take advantage of exposure to more refined skills offered by players performing at a higher level. This offers U18 players the opportunity to further develop their own skills, but also provides the chance of mentorship with  senior players who can share the benefits of experience.

What to expect

U18 Nomads rugby is a fast, physical, coherent game. Developing individual skills is still important, but at the U18 level we take those skills and integrate them into positional and open play.  This requires more thinking and a greater understanding of how different components of the team work together to defeat the opposition.  Integrating strategy and a higher level of decision making adds a new dimension to the U18 game making it more focused on discipline and organization and less about the physical presence and untrained athleticism of individual players. Taking advantage of the skills developed at school and in lower levels of club rugby enables the players to become more flexible in their understanding of positional play in attack and defense.

Players at the U18 level often have a few years of rugby experience, and so the coaching staff can focus more on developing position-specific skills.  U18 rugby sees the transition from teams anchored by all-round players to teams composed of  specialists working in unison to field a multifaceted, flexible unit that can better channel pace, agility, and strength. Tactical decision-making will be necessary under the pressure of an attack and communication around defense will be a critical focus this year. Creating an organized and effective defense is dependent on communication and solid fundamental skills.

Players who will benefit the most from this season are those who are self-motivated and prepared with the patience and determination it takes to build a successful team.  This will be a very competitive summer for the Nomads U18s; for the coming season there will be a lot to take on in rugby development.  Players who can work hard as a part of a team while recognizing that there are areas for individual skill improvement will take the most from this season.

Review of 2010 Season

The 2010 season saw a surge in interest among high school players from across Toronto. With an active roster of between 25-35 players, there was plenty of competition for starting spots each Wednesday. Players pushed themselves and each other at practice each week to perform at a level beyond their own expectations, and the result was reflected in the Wins column.

The Nomads U18 boys team dominated the West division of the Toronto Rugby Union League, recording many decisive wins and only one loss to finish the regular season with a 5-1 record. In the top round of the TRU playoffs, the Nomads had a disappointing result and fell in the first round to the Oakville Crusaders. It was a frustrating end to an otherwise successful season, and the returning players have used the opening round playoff loss as motivation for the upcoming season.

Many players from the Nomads 2010 U18 side have gone on to play at university, earning caps in the high-level Ontario University Athletics men’s rugby league as well as at schools outside the province. As these players return to Toronto for the summer, they will compete for starting spots with the Nomads Senior Mens  1st and 2nd teams.

The Toronto Nomads Rugby Club actively promotes the Rugby Ontario Provincial (ORU) junior programme.  The 2011 season will see 9 provincial players returning to the U18 line up.

Adonis P
Geoff M
Joe G
Luca P
Lucas H
PJ W
Richard H
Graham D
Jon L
Liam G
Mark P

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U18s Archive

The 2008 Nomads under-18s

January 27th, 2009

Under 18s
(Born on or after January 1, 1993)

The Nomads U18s had a very good season- bolstered by some of the more experienced U16s, the squad provided many very exciting rugby games. They played hard, competitive rugby, they represented the Nomads proudly on and off the field.

The U18s are composed of players from over a dozen Toronto schools including Northern Secondary, North Toronto, Humberside, Riverdale, Oakwood, UTS, Leaside, Crescent and more. The Nomads provided coaching assistance at Northern S.S., North Toronto, Humberside, Oakwood, UTS, Leaside, Riverdale, CHAT and others.

Lead by coach Aaron Cowie and assisted by Robert Maxim “Max” the U18s were a very competitive team in a very competitive league.

The U18s coaches are looking forward to the coming season. 2009 will carry on and build on last year’s successes. There is a very strong contingent of the Ontario Finalists U16s moving up and they are very keen to play hard solid rugby.

As mentioned above, the U18s will train as a squad but in tandem with the U16s. The final details of dates, times and locations will be published on the Nomads website.

The U18s were a very talented group of athletes and rugby players- it made it very difficult to select those who best represented their team and their teammates.

U18 Trophies 2008:

U18 Trophies 2007:

Bill Brown with Andrew Pomroy

Nathan Robb with Bill Brown

Morrow Oxley with Bill Brown

Steve Rowlands with Bill Brown

Carl Xu with Bill Brown

Karl Bechmann with Bill Brown

Ken Draper with Bill Brown

Ontario U18s: Steve Rowlands, Graham Mahar, Matt Kelly

Canada U17s: Matt Kelly

U18 Trophies 2006:

CONTACTS:

Stay in touch with Nomads news and events plus our bulletin board at www.torontonomads.com

The 2008 Juniors Clinic

U18 Trophies 2005

U18 Trophies 2004

Click on collage above for Nomads’ Junior Poster (.jpg)
Click here for Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) version