The Waterfall Competitions are open to the U12, U13 and U14 Age Grades
Invitations to take part in the Waterfall Competitions are sent out to the Club Age Grade Chairs by the SRFU Competitions Manager at the end of each season
How the Waterfall Competitions work
The Sussex Waterfall is competitive playing programme where the emphasis is on equal participation and encourages both individual and team progression.
Teams are split into ‘pools’ based on the previous Waterfall competitions results. For U12s, coaches are asked to provide a fair indicator to their teams’ relative strength – rated as Strong, Average or Developing – before the start of the U12 season.
Pools contain 4 or 5 teams of similar strength to provide 3 to 4 games with similarly matched competition. These are played in a round robin format on weekends specified by Sussex within the Age Grade Playing Calendar. Pool A contains the stronger teams – with the last pool containing the developing teams. The number of Pools varies depending on the team entries. Clubs with sufficient numbers may enter more than one team.
The season is split into two ‘phases’. Phase 1 is played up to Christmas. Points are awarded for wins, draws and Try Bonus points and Losers Bonus points are available. This allows the organiser to then rank the teams within a Pool at the end of Phase 1. The Phase 2 draw is then made – with the top team usually move up one Pool – and the bottom team moving down one pool.
Phase 2 games are then played from January until the end of April. The results at the end of this phase provide the basis of the pools for the next season after being redrawn and teams moving up/down accordingly based on the results. NB – at the end of U14s – teams will progress into a ‘League’ structure at U15 through Colts. The U14 Phase 2 results will form the basis of which League the team will be placed into.
A further advantage of the Waterfall process is that the organiser can, at their discretion, move a team up or down by more than one pool – so that the core ethos of providing competition that is as equal as possible is maintained. This encourages player progression, retention and maximises enjoyment for all.
