A large chunk of Tauranga Boys' College's well-performed football first XI has provided the backbone of the Tauranga City FC team which has arrived in Hawke's Bay for the prestigious Napier City Rovers Under 19 Youth Tournament.

And they've got the talent to give a pretty good account of themselves, the club believes.

The Labour Weekend tournament, organised annually by the Napier club, is recognised as the country's foremost youth competition, bringing together the under 19 teams of the country's top football clubs.

A total of 24 clubs are entered in the main draw, including Chatham Cup winners Birkenhead United, Mirimar Rangers of Wellington, Christchurch's Cashmere Technical, Northern League Premier division clubs Hamilton Wanderers, Melville United, Waitakere City and Three Kings United, as well as Tauranga City.

The bulk of the side have performed well through the season in the Boys' College first XI, which finished sixth in the national secondary schools' tournament in Christchurch, and fifth in the senior men's Loaded WaiBOP Premiership.

The squad includes Tauranga City senior men's team players Riley Bidois of Tauranga Boys', and Daniel Hymers of Otumoetai College. At the youngest end of the age scale is Vincent Phirun, who plays in the Junior A team at Tauranga Boys'.

The club's Northern League team coach Nic Millichip, who is travelling with the team as a technical assistant to head coach Cameron Grieve, says the competition is very tough but he's expecting a positive performance from them.

'I would hope that we go okay. We've got a decent side, and we've got a good coaching crew around it,” he says.

The club was stoked with the turnout they got for the trials in September, he says, and had a great chance to assess the young talent in the Tauranga area.

Since the team selection they've had upwards of a dozen training sessions to come together as a team, says Nic.

'We've worked on a team model, we've worked on a pattern of play, and we've got a plan in place that we're hoping is going to come through if the boys can execute so I see no reason why we shouldn't be very competitive.”

The team travelled down to Hawke's Bay this morning and began settling in for the tournament with a visit to the venue at Park Island, and a light training run this afternoon.

With three 50-minute matches tomorrow they expect to make full use of their 18-strong squad.

They begin at 9am tomorrow morning, with match against Wellington's Island Bay United, before taking on Tawa at 1pm and Manurewa at four.

Sunday's schedule also begins at nine with a match against Mirimar Rangers, then they meet Waikato rivals Hamilton Wanders at one.

Quarterfinals begin at 5pm Sunday, then semifinals and finals round out the tournament on Monday.

Tauranga City FC's under 19 squad for the Napier City Rovers youth tournament:

Oliver Harrop, Riley Bidois, Daniel Hymers, Patrick Burtenshaw, Adam Davidson, Alfie Cole, Scott Walpole, Campbell Browne, Stan Rust, Ryan Peddle, Harry Donald, Scott Hawkins, Mohdeep Sodhi, Guy Ten Bokkel Huinink, Kees Tweed, Alex Elliott, Hamish Watt, Vincent Phirun

Manager: Joe Pamment

Coach: Cameron Grieve

Assist Coach: Jim Burtenshaw

Assist Coach: John Whitfield

GK Coach: Tommy Pamment

Technical Coach: Nic Millichip