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The best of New Zealand’s emerging women players have been identified and selected for a High Performance Development camp.

The programme will see 42 of the most talented young players come together for a position specific workshop with leading coaches from across the country.

Black Ferns Assistant Coach Wesley Clarke said this camp will bridge the gap in a player’s development that has been identified.

“The Farah Palmer Cup provides a great playing opportunity for our players, but those programmes are not specifically development focused.

“The aim is to get these players together for a national camp and accelerate their development by exposing them to top level position specific coaching,” said Clarke.

The long-term goal of the programme is for New Zealand to be able to field an Under 20 women’s team for international fixtures.

Players have been selected from school, club and Farah Palmer Cup rugby and represent 11 Provincial Unions.

Clarke said the strength of talent across the country is impressive.

“Women’s rugby is a massive growth area and we are seeing incredible talent coming through right across the country. It will be exciting to get them all together in one place to work together for a week,” said Clarke.

Rodney Gibbs, who coached the New Zealand Barbarians for their series against the Black Ferns in 2020 heads the coaching group for the week and is joined by a number of former Black Ferns including Victoria Grant, Melissa Ruscoe, Anna Richards and Kristina Sue as position specific coaches.

The camp was scheduled to be held in Hamilton this month but has been postponed due to Covid19 restrictions. It will take place early next year.

The selected players are;