Promising young players will descend on Dunedin for the rest of the week with the carrot of playing under the roof of Forsyth Barr Stadium dangling in front of them.
Dunedin plays host to the South Island under-16 rugby tournament this week, kicking off tomorrow, with games at Logan Park and the University Oval.
The teams have been split into three pools of four and have already played two of their three opponents.
Mid Canterbury, Otago Country and Canterbury Metro are leading the pools.
Otago Country will play Southland tomorrow, while Otago Metro will take on North Otago, both at the University Oval grounds, at 12.30pm.
These are some of the final pool games which will then decide the quarterfinalists.
Semifinals will be played on Friday and the finals on Saturday.
The main final will be played at Forsyth Barr Stadium, kicking off at 12.30pm.
The Otago Metro team is coached by Ross Hanson and Luke Herden, while the Otago Country side is coached by Bruce Hansen and Tony Stevens.
The tournament was played on the West Coast last year and was won by Canterbury Metro, which should again be a major threat.
Although no tournament team will be picked at the conclusion of the tournament, selectors will be watching to pick players to attend a New Zealand under-17 training camp next year.
The South Island under-18 tournament is being played in Christchurch at the end of this week.
Meanwhile, those who believe they have one of the biggest boots in the country can enter a competition later this week for which the ultimate prize is a trip to the United Kingdom to watch the All Blacks play.
The Otago Rugby Football Union is hosting a qualifying event this Friday from 4pm-5pm at King's High School as part of the Air New Zealand Biggest Boot Competition.
The 26 provincial unions around the country will pick a kicker to compete at a national final on October 14 in Christchurch.
The final will be at Air New Zealand's engineering base in the city, where kickers will compete to kick the 73m length of a Boeing 777-300 aircraft.
The winner of the longest kick will be flown to London to watch the All Blacks take on England at Twickenham on December 1.
