York Rugby Union Club's youth section will be supplying two-thirds of the Yorkshire RFU Clubs Under-16 front row for the forthcoming county programme.

Tight head prop John Bird and Chris Woolley, loose-head prop, who play for the Clifton Park club's U16 and Youth Develop-ment teams, will form the foundation of the county scrum.

Bird gained selection through the Yorkshire Schools' U16 development programme, while Woolley progressed through the Yorkshire Clubs District programme where he captained the North Yorkshire U16 squad. It is second time round for Woolley in the white rose shirt after he played for the U15 group last season.

The young tyros have already contributed to Yorkshire U16's 51-0 defeat of a West Yorkshire District Select XV in a warm-up.

Now they are looking forward to the annual county clashes with Lancashire and Cheshire, followed by back-to-back weekends after Easter against Scottish opposition, starting with home matches against Edinburgh and Borders and culminating in a tour to play Glasgow and Caledonia.

Colin Clark, York youth develop-ment coach and a Yorkshire U16 coach, said: "Everyone at York is delighted for John and Chris. Their selections, plus those of other York team-mates at Yorkshire U17 level and for North Yorkshire District, mean that York's youth development policy has a solid foundation for the future.

"At an age when boys tend to drift away from rugby as a result of schoolwork pressures and other interests, the youth development team will offer them a positive link between junior and senior rugby and hopefully will supply a stream of talented players into York's senior ranks."

Updated: 11:11 Friday, March 26, 2004