Dunedin will be engulfed with young rugby players this weekend as the city hosts the South Island primary school tournament.
The annual event, which grades players on two weight categories, under-65kg and under-48kg, was last held in Otago in 2004 when it was played in Alexandra.
The tournament will be based at Bathgate Park and will involve more than 250 players.
Six teams will play in each grade.
The tournament starts on Sunday afternoon with a game a day and will finish on Tuesday.
The matches between Canterbury Metro and Otago on Tuesday will be played at Carisbrook, with all other games at Bathgate ParkThe under-48kg games will be played before the under-65kg matches.
Games have already been played between Otago North Otago, and Southland in one pool, and Canterbury Metro, Canterbury Country and South Canterbury in the northern pool.
Otago leads after games in the southern pool in both the under-65kg and under-48kg grades, winning both its games, while Southland has defeated North Otago in both grades.
In the northern pool, Canterbury Country leads the under-48kg grade, and Canterbury Metro leads the under-65kg grade.
Canterbury Metro won both grades last year, when the tournament was played in Kaiapoi.
A South Island team will be picked at the conclusion of the tournament with the Southern club members, Daryl Paterson, Tim Belcher and Alan Stevens the selectors.
The team will not play any games.
A shield will be presented to the winning team and there will also be a fair play award.
The weights have increased over the years - they used to be under-56kg and under-42kg.
Teams from Nelson and Marlborough are not attending the tournament, because of the travel costs, and neither will Mid Canterbury, Buller and West Coast participate.
• Outram beat East Taieri Green 10-0 in a year 5-6 primary schools competition at Tahuna Park yesterday. The inaugural competition involved 16 teams from Dunedin schools.
