Not really the same thing hepi hadn't played pro anywhere I think he might have played a bit of junior rugby in new Zealand

Go easy on Bobness guys, he didn't use the "fact"word....

It's 3 years before 21st birthday mate. You are correct that it is age over nationality though.

That was certainly right until recently and still might be.

However, I have seen a couple of [uhints[/u (nothing official), that the 'Rhys Lovegrove dispensation' might have gone universal, giving us a 'club trained while with club' sub-category.

In some ways this makes sense - to be making it harder for young unproven players like Laurence Pearce or George Griffin (maybe Jamie Shaul?) to get a chance, when a lack of talent is being at least partly blamed for needing to cut to 12 SL clubs would be a bit daft.

But it would certainly be a big shift, as the restrictive approach was meant in large part to focus clubs' minds on their own academies. If clubs can routinely get 19 or 20 year olds in from outside the club or even country to make up their club-trained numbers, that'd be more... flexible. A tacit admission perhaps that the non-fed rule was predicated on inaccurate assumptions about how much domestic talent was going to waste, but without having to say it openly.

Hepi spent a few years in the UK when he was a youngster, I taught him at David Lister when he was 13, not sure if that helps or not?

Looked a cracking player even at that age.

Hepi joined us at the start of last season and is only just 20. He'll meet the criteria for club-trained, irrespective of any possible changes, I'm pretty sure.

It doesn't appear to have helped Tyla a whole lot...

'Club Trained' if a player has or will have 3 full seasons prior to turning 21. (club trained sometimes referred to as homegrown.)

'Club Trained Whilst There' status if you join prior to age 21 but don't get the 3 years in.

Both 'club trained' & 'club trained whilst there' count in respect of the requirement for 8 club trained players in the 25 man squad.

Josh Hodgson is 'club trained whilst there' for us as an example. Think he was 20 when he joined us.

Also Rhys Lovegrove who is Australian counts as 'club trained whilst there' as does George Griffin. Both joined the club prior to turning 21 but without the possibility of accumulating 3 years.

Don't know how old Tyla Hepi was when he joined us but he was certainly under 21 and will definitely count as either club trained or club trained whilst there. It really doesn't matter where he was born or where he played his rugby beforehand.

If that is true (I have no reason to doubt you) and I don't have time to check ATM then fair enough and I hold my hands up.
I knew that was the rule for those that signed before the changes but I wasn't aware it had been widened to everyone.

Every time this topic comes up people tell me I am wrong but I promise you I am not.

I have a full definition of what constitutes club trained, federation trained and quota provided by the RFL.

Quote Anakin Skywalker="Anakin Skywalker"If that is true (I have no reason to doubt you) and I don't have time to check ATM then fair enough and I hold my hands up. I knew that was the rule for those that signed before the changes but I wasn't aware it had been widened to everyone.'" I have just checked... rflmedia.therfl.co.uk/docs/Secti ... 0Rules.pdf And as far as I can see the definition of club-trained, [ihasn't[/i changed - rule B1:12B (a) As I say, I saw it suggested that it maybe had been, but that is this year's version of the operational rules. The RFL still retains discretion to classify a player as club or fed-trained even if a player doesn't strictly qualify. I know Pearce has gone back to Union, but strictly he'd have been non-fed. Although there is something called 'New Talent Pool status'. I guess Shaul will qualify as fed-trained, at least, as his Amateur club is part of the same federation? But, assuming this is only his second season on their books, he'd need a dispensation to remain club-trained. Jacob Miller will have been eligible for under-21 this year, so will, right now, be club-trained. Next year he'll be non-fed though. I lost the will to carry on as far as George Griffin.

Quote Anakin Skywalker="Anakin Skywalker"If that is true (I have no reason to doubt you) and I don't have time to check ATM then fair enough and I hold my hands up. I knew that was the rule for those that signed before the changes but I wasn't aware it had been widened to everyone.'" I have just checked... rflmedia.therfl.co.uk/docs/Secti ... 0Rules.pdf And as far as I can see the definition of club-trained, [ihasn't[/i changed - rule B1:12B (a) As I say, I saw it suggested that it maybe had been, but that is this year's version of the operational rules. The RFL still retains discretion to classify a player as club or fed-trained even if a player doesn't strictly qualify. I know Pearce has gone back to Union, but strictly he'd have been non-fed. Although there is something called 'New Talent Pool status'. I guess Shaul will qualify as fed-trained, at least, as his Amateur club is part of the same federation? But, assuming this is only his second season on their books, he'd need a dispensation to remain club-trained. Jacob Miller will have been eligible for under-21 this year, so will, right now, be club-trained. Next year he'll be non-fed though. I lost the will to carry on as far as George Griffin.

B1:12B
The following definitions shall apply to Clause B1:12A above:
(a) „Club Trained Player‟: a player who has been on the Club‟s register for any 3 full Seasons before the end of the Season in which he ceases to be eligible by age to play at Under 21 level. For the avoidance of doubt, from the 2010 Season onwards a player must satisfy the requirement to have been on the Club‟s register for 3 full Seasons before being ineligible to play at Under 21 level in order to qualify as a „Club Trained Player‟ and the fact that he may have qualified as a „Club Trained Player‟ in the 2008 and/or 2009 Seasons shall be irrelevant.

This is the key paragraph.
Tyla Hepi doesn't fall into this catagory as he needed to be here 3 years BEFORE he turned 21.
BTW Bob this are not my words but the words of the RFL in their own rules.