Over the past decade, the juniors section of Rugby Club Luxembourg has gone from strength to strength; starting with just six players – some of whom are now members of the U19 squad whilst a number have gone on to achieve Senior Club and National team honours – the club currently has more than 260 players registered in the juniors section and can boast an impressive regular turnout at all age grades from U6 to U19.

Rugby's core values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship are instilled by the coaches from day one and the outcome is visibly reflected in the attitude of the players, and in their success on and off the pitch. Several junior players have already been selected to represent Luxembourg for international games at age grades U16, U18, U20 – and all the boys are ambassadors for the advantages that a responsible involvement in sport can bring.

It is hoped that the 2015 Rugby World Cup will give a further boost to player numbers and build on the legacy of these pioneers. Any new player who is interested in joining is invited to register online at www.RCL.lu and to come along to training on Monday/Wednesday/Friday evening or Saturday morning at Cessange where they can take contact with experienced team coaches.

The RCL U16 and U19 squads play in the Belgian league. The U16s play in the first Division. Since an RCL team for the U19s age group was first created to contest the 2013-2014 season, they have gained promotion consecutively from 4th division to the 2nd division. In a bid to continue this success and to integrate the players moving up from last year's U16 squad, the 2015-2016 season kicked off with a very successful training camp over the weekend 5 - 6 September, covering an intensive and varied programme. Team-building exercises, objective setting, physical fitness, game strategy, technical skills and competitive matches were all on the agenda. Some 35 boys participated (and the number would have been over 45 were it not for commitments to school trips and other unavoidable out-of-country obligations).

This year, RCL will also field a second U19s team in the Belgian league. This requires commitment from the players and their families and the volunteer coaches – but is only possible through the durable links which have been established with commercial sponsors. Proud sponsors of the RCL U16 and U19 squads for 2015-2016 include Kneip, Gentoo and LuxGateway. Representatives from each of these principal shirt sponsors were invited guests at the U19s first home game of the season, on 19 September, to witness an extremely successful launch of this campaign against a proud but overwhelmed opponent, result RCL 151 : 0 Anderlecht. The second U19 team also picked up a bonus point win in their away match in Belgium (Stade Nivellois 7 : 39 RCL 2nd XV), rounding off another outstanding day's rugby.

Bob Kneip, and Graham Goodhew were at hand before the Cessange match to officially unveil the new playing jerseys for the 2015-16 season. Antoine Santoni was unable to attend due to work commitments but present in spirit. This was also an opportunity to inaugurate the new generation synthetic pitch at Cessange installed by Ville de Luxembourg over the summer in recognition of the growing importance of club rugby in the Grand Duchy. The Club is extremely pleased to be able to continue to count on the long established support of JPMorgan, the Tube, Kindersport, Orange, Deynecourt, KFC and Sales-Lentz.