Rugby in Mauritius receiving timely development boost

As part of its Mauritius2024 Olympic program, Rugby Union Mauritius is developing different forms of rugby to reach more players on the island including RugbyX, new rugby version launched by World Rugby in 2019.

RugbyX is a development tool integrated since September by four federations currently (Australia, England, Ireland, New Zealand) in various school programs, high performance and development.

Mauritius, being the fifth, follows the example of these federations by integrating RugbyX in its development program, particularly with its young people but also in the school environment for 2020.

On the weekend of November 23, the RugbyX was been tested on Under-16 men and women from clubs and schools. More than 70 players tried out this new practice at the SPARC High-Performance Sports Complex.

The players particularly liked the duel 1vs1 during ties. Cf Video

Director of Mauritius Rugby, Jean-Baptiste Gobelet said: “I am very close to RugbyX and the new forms of Rugby in general. Seeing these four nations were also very interested in this tool is not surprising in their development policy.

“As part of the training of the player, practice other sports but especially all forms of rugby (XV, Sevens, 10s, Beach, Touch, RugbyX, or even XIII for my overseas players) is for me the basis, it develops undeniably the technical, physical, tactical and mental qualities of the player.

“Each rugby and especially RugbyX can bring a lot technically for the player on specific phases. For example, offensively we have noticed many more activities on the rezoning in the midfield. Players take more initiative and seek more accurate race angles to defeat the defensive block. There is a proliferation of offensive connections. There are other strong points of activation in the game beneficial to the players as part of the high performance.

“In general, this will be an essential tool in the development with new populations including the school, wanting to learn to practice rugby.”

In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo