After some strong showings by the Young Yabbettes at the Kiama 7s and the Cowra 10s competitions earlier this year, the Young Rugby Union Club are heading into the 2026 season on a strong footing.

The Young Yabbettes were finalists in the Kiama 7's which was hosted on February 28, before returning to take on the Cowra 10's tournament on March 7 where they were semi finalists.

Young Rugby Club's Nick Duff said the women's squad has been doing a great job to start the year, which is good to see.

The club has started the training season strongly this year, Mr Duff said, with a good cohort of players coming down to train for both the men's and women's squad.

Currently, Mr Duff said the women's squad have really strong numbers which is awesome, and the men's squad has been getting around 20 players consistently to training, with the club welcoming Matt Tonkin who is the new coach of the men's squad.

Young's first match up will be on Friday, 10 April against Grenfell and Mr Duff said they are certainly in the right stead for the first match of the season.

Mr Duff said while they are confident heading into the season, they have a vastly new team lineup and it will be interesting to see how they go without a pre season hit out.

"It will be good to dust the cobwebs off and try players in different positions and put our right foot forward and see how we go," he said.

Looking forward to the year ahead the Young Yabbies will be welcoming the Cauliflower Club to town on Saturday, 18 April.

The Cauliflower Club is a rugby organisation that travels country NSW and plays rugby matches. The aim of these weekends or games is to raise money for people who suffer disabilities and rugby related injuries, monies raised go back into that area to be used for those injuries.

While they will be in town, there will be a 9 Hole Ambros on Friday afternoon.

Over the weekend there will be a Junior coaching clinic hosted by the Cauliflower Club which also includes Wallabies.

The main event will see the Cauliflower Club take on the Yabs Old boys and will be followed by the main season games between Young and the Harden Red Devils in both men’s and women’s. More information to come.