Auckland teen forced to play rugby for another school to get time on field

An Auckland teenager has been given dispensation to play rugby for another school after repeatedly being left on the sideline by his own coaches.

Despite regularly going to training and travelling to every game around the city, the 14-year-old only got 20 minutes of game time in total across 11 games.

New Zealand Rugby policy states every player not playing at 1st XV level is required to get at least half a game.

But after speaking to coaches and the school, the teenager has ended up playing for another school in the same competition.

Speaking to Morning Report, the boy's father said a lot of effort had gone into making sure his son attended training four days a week and was prepared on the sidelines every weekend, despite hardly ever getting any game time.

"We show up after half an hour's drive or more just to find out that our son's not playing.

"Why doesn't anyone let us know beforehand because that could have saved us a lot of time especially when you have more kids that you had to get up early in the morning and travel, just to find that he's standing on the sidelines once again.

"It's just robbing him of game time for no reason," his father said.

Since the boy has played for another school, he's played two full games.

"He just feels happy as. How any kid will feel just to get the game time. In his second game he got player of the match," his father told John Campbell.

RNZ is not naming the child or the school, but numerous attempts to contact the school's principal via email, text and phone call remained unanswered.