For Alex Vaughan and Jayden Duff confirmation of their selection in the New South Wales Junior Rugby Union (NSWJRU) Country Open (U18’s) side means they will have ample opportunities to impress selectors and gain further representative honours in 2018. This is because Vaughan is also a member NSW Combined Catholic Schools team while Duff made the NSW Combined High Schools Opens 2nd XV. So the flanker and half back are firmly entrenched on the both the NSWJRU and NSW Schools rep pathways. In other words, these talented young players could potentially end up in the NSW Schoolboys first or second side, or in the NSWJRU 1 team. Their country coach, Chris Colemen, says while these pathways do clash everyone is working together to make sure the conflicts are sorted and that  players like 16-year-old Duff and 17-year-old Vaughan receive “maximum exposure”.