ON RUGBY:LAST NIGHT the Leinster Schools Senior and Junior Cup draws were unveiled with a pageantry borrowed from the professional arm of rugby. It's a recent and in some respects apposite phenomenon because, since the advent of professionalism in the sport, the schools have adopted many of the characteristics of senior rugby infrastructures.

Many of the elite rugby schools in Leinster boast directors of rugby, posts filled increasingly by former players; some affiliated to the institution in a teaching capacity, some not. Remuneration for the role is a five-figure sum in some cases but the mimicry of professional structures extends way beyond simply payment.

Schools’ senior cup squads – it’s not quite as comprehensive at JCT level – are organised along the lines of a professional franchise in respect to training, conditioning and match preparation, borrowing many staples of their paid counterparts like video analysis, nutrition, strength and conditioning, defence structures and foreign warm weather training camps in their quest for silverware. The lines between schoolboy and professional athlete, in terms of preparation, have become increasingly blurred.

While elite schools may adhere to a professional template, they don’t have a responsibility to produce professional rugby players; nor should they. They are there to educate and nurture in the classroom and on the playing fields but this mission statement is often compromised by subjectivity.

The arbiter between success and failure is often trophies, directors of rugby aware that their security of tenure is based on how a school fares at JCT and SCT level. In that environment it is difficult to foster a holistic approach to skills development, to focus on equipping boys with the tools to go on and enjoy the sport, irrespective of what level they play once they have left the school.

It is not wilful neglect but it is a difficult balancing act that the smaller schools are often better able to juggle: more modest numbers make it easier to facilitate personalised tuition for the majority rather than a minority of elite players and also place a greater emphasis on flair and invention to try to offset physical mismatches in competitive fare.

There is a certain irony that schools employ directors of rugby to oversee the marquee teams but it is in first year that the need for excellence in coaching terms is arguably more important. Inculcating good technique and skills in what should be ostensibly a non-pressurised playing environment and also fostering a style of rugby that is both challenging and enjoyable is a sound long-term investment that will reap dividends for both school and individual.

The IRFU has very clear edicts on the competitive aspect of underage club rugby where the focus on skills development, participation for all and enjoyment is primary. Up to a certain age grade they do not allow clubs to have finals or “medal matches” in “blitzes”, instead favouring a round-robin format where teams are pitted against each other based on ability.

Children are competitive by instinct rather than requiring any artifice of tournament structures.

Clubs are often the first contact point for children with the sport. The irony is that they are primary surrogate carers before the kids – JCT and SCT squad members are not allowed to play club rugby – are adopted by the schools structure on reaching secondary education.

The union though has very little influence in schools. That is not their domain and the schools are keen to reinforce that position. While the IRFU can encourage clubs, through financial rewards and other incentives, to send individuals on their coaching courses, they can not at schools level. It is a relationship that would benefit from a more sympathetic outlook on both sides.

That is not a criticism of the teaching community, who selflessly give of their time for no remuneration at all in the overwhelming majority of cases. There is a decline in the number of teachers available to coach teams and that is reflected by schools’ reliance on past pupils to take up the slack in terms of assisting both in the training and on match days.

When the Government witters on about the current obesity in children issue, they might be better served by action rather than rhetoric; investing money in supporting the teachers and volunteers who encourage and facilitate children playing sport.

Schools rugby can, and does in many instances, have a hugely positive influence in promoting work ethic, the importance of collective values and sacrifices over individual needs. It instils discipline and individual responsibility within a team framework.

What it should not become is a quasi-professional rugby environment where the quest for trophies supersedes everything else. It’s not about a woolly Corinthian notion or that everything was just fine and dandy in rugby’s amateur era. Far from it, just a recognition that not only the numbers who go on to play club rugby will continue to dwindle but that participation in the sport in schools will drop off.

A desire to ape the patterns of professional teams in attack and defence has squeezed some of the innate flair and joy out of the schools game.

Games are often not determined by trying to create and exploit space but by one team physically trying to run over the top of another. It’ll be a sad day when physique rather than skill is the most cherished attribute. The England rugby team, anyone?

The schools game remains the premium production line in terms of talent for the provincial and national stars of the future, even though it is not their primary remit. It won’t continue if schools rugby becomes increasingly aligned to the interests of an elite minority and careers down the road of the professional game.

Schools may need to re-examine their playing structures to ensure a more holistic approach, focusing on skills rather than results, so that every child is given the chance to enjoy the sport long after they stop wearing a uniform. There doesn’t have to be a conflict of interest between winning and general development.

Professional rugby in Ireland needs a vibrant schools – and club game for that matter – at underage level. The two should not be mutually exclusive. There is no harm in borrowing bits and pieces from the professional game; the trick is selecting wisely.

- Gerry Thornley is on leave