Following last week’s announcement that their 2017 tour will be to Canada, the ISRFC Lambs have today announced their structure for the 2016/17 season.

For those new to the Lambs concept, players are eligible to compete for the Lambs after being nominated by their school coaches, provided that they are not part of any academies.

Following nomination, players are then put through a rigorous series of trials, with numbers being whittled down until the Lambs National Squad is selected in January. This squad then plays a series of games before going on tour, the crowning point of the Lambs’ season. You can read about this 2017’s trip to Canada here: 2017 Lambs will head to Canada.

This year the Lambs’ process begins on Monday 31^st October. That is the day that nominations of players are made by school coaches. At this stage the Lambs is a regional system, with four regions, North, Midlands, South East, and South West.

Sunday 4^th December sees players selected to those four Lambs regions, with the first warm up games taking place on Sunday 11^th December.

The process then has a quick hiatus over Christmas before resuming on Sunday 8^th January with a round robin series of games forming the first part of selection to the full National Squad.

From there the Lambs squad is selected and the fixtures begin. First up they face Irish Exiles on Sunday 22^nd January.

Moving into February, the first game is against Crawshays on Sunday 5th February, with Yorkshire on Sunday 12^th February. Boys Club of Wales are up next on Sunday 19^th February. 

The Lambs then have two midweek games before their tour departs, on Tuesday 28^th February against Northampton Saints and on Monday 6^th March against Saracens, though that date is still to be confirmed.

The tour squad then departs on Thursday 30^th March for their tour of Canada, where they will play four games including a fixture against Canada U18 on Sunday 9^th March ahead of their arrival back in the UK on Tuesday 11^th March.

The Lambs’ season then comes to a close with fixtures for the U16s and U18s on Saturday 29^th April against Irish Exiles and Worcester Warriors, with a big end of season dinner afterwards at Loughborough University that all players, parents, former players, coaches, and spectators would be highly encouraged to get along to!

It ought to be a superb season of ‘fast and free’ rugby once again, and we are just a couple of months away from the process starting!

2016 ISRFC Lambs Season Structure

Monday 31^st October – Nominations open for the four regions

Sunday 4th December  – Regional Selection days

Sunday 11th December – Regional warm up games

Sunday 18^th December – Reserve Sunday

Sunday 8th January – Selection to National Squad, round robin weekend for all 4 regions (venue TBC)

Sunday 15^th January – Reserve weekend

Sunday 22^nd January – Irish Exiles

Sunday 29^th January – Reserve weekend

Sunday 5^th February – Crawshays Welsh

Sunday 12^th February – Yorkshire

Sunday 19^th February – Boys Club of Wales

Tuesday 28^th February – Northampton Saints

Monday 6^th March – Saracens

30^th March to 11^th April 2017 – Canada Tour

• Saturday 1st April – Match Day 1 v Caplilano RFC, Vancouver
• Monday 3rd April – Match Day 2 v Pacific Loggers, Seattle
• Thursday 6th April – Match Day 3 v British Columbia Select XV, Vancouver
• Sunday 9th April – Match Day 4 v Canada U18, Victoria

Saturday 29^th April – Irish Exiles (16s) and Worcester 17s (18s) plus dinner. (Loughborough)