UAE Rugby announced its Elite Player Programme, aimed at identifying and developing future National representative Emirati players.

The primary goal of the Elite Player Programme will be to focus on the development of 25 talented U18 Emirati players every calendar year.

“It is a necessity that these players show strong potential, in skills and mental aptitude, to progress to a higher level, with the ultimate aim being UAE National Team representation on the international stage” said UAE Rugby Secretary General, Qais Al Dhalai.

Apollo Perelini, UAE Rugby’s Head Coach and High Performance Manager said: “In the first year our focus will be the Senior Elite U18’s, year 2 we will widen our reach to Junior Elite U16, and year 3 we will bring in a Junior U14 category.”

“These 3 levels of development will give us a stronger platform to identify and develop our Elite player and provide us with a sustainable future for Emirati players.” added Perelini.

Each year, the group will participate in numerous training camps and focus on age-specific skills and fitness.

A series of fitness tests including Anthropometric measures, straight line speed, lower limb power, agility and VO2 max testing, will be performed by the U16 and U18 groups.

The programme will commence in January.