Player Development - U20 and beyond

[Epaminondas Pules]

I’ve been having a look at the development of players coming through the U20s and their forays into first team rugby. Just focussing on last years JWC winning squad and then those involved in the U20s this year. I will caveat straight away and say that stats are only largely available for Championship and above, so BUCS or anything below Championship isn’t readily available.

That said you’d probably say Champ is the development ground for those who have that something to push into potential first team action.

Premiership:
In terms of Prem game time, 7 players across the last two years U20s have racked up 10 games or more. AOF leads the way with 18, whilst Fasogbon has 15 and Oli Spencer of Falcons has 14 from the group that graduated last year. The rest are all still U20s and consist of Kpoku (14 - Top 14), Joe Davis (12), Pollock (11), McParland (10). The next two highest are Redshaw, who but for injury would definitely have hit well into double figures, and Angus Hall. Hall and Davis are worth noting as it is their first season out of school. Craig Wright and ben Waghorn both started to break through towards the end of the season and got some good game time in, whilst Michelow and Wills are in and around the first team squad. Michelow has quite a lineup of players to battle for a back row shirt. Also, Carnduff would surely have played a lot more than he did if he hadn’t suffered from injury. Although I call them out later Exeter have given Prem time to three of their U20s with Nick Lilley playing in his first season out of school.

One thing that stands out is that over half of this year’s U20s have played some Prem minutes this season, and more impressively 8 of them are in their first post school season.

Club wise, Sale, Saints and Bath have all played 5 players, Harlequins 4, Newcastle, Saracens and Exeter 3, Gloucester 2 and Bristol 1. Saints have also given game time to 2 school kids in Henry Lumley and James Pater.

Prem Cup:
Leading game time in the Prem Cup are those who graduated from the U20s last year, both in terms of appearances and minutes on the pitch, and that’s with a few like AOF being only lightly used in that tournament. Otherwise game time is pretty widespread across the age group, though 10 of this years U20 got no Prem Cup game time. I’ll caveat that in that 3 of them were school kids at the time.

Probably the biggest thing that stands out in the Prem Cup is that only two Exeter players got any Prem Cup game time; and that was Ben Coen and Joe Bailey with 2 games each. Gulley, Lilly, Ridl, Beckerleg, Allison, James got zero Prem Cup minutes!

There are more players across the teams that have played Prem Cup but not played U20s yet.

Championship:
There were, as you’d expect, quite a few loanees to Championship clubs. But much like Mr B has said many times, their game time for many was sporadic. There are some with consistent loan time, like James Isaacs who played a full season for Ampthill, only coming back to Sarries for 3 Prem Cup games. Bellamy as well had a decent sting at London Scottish, playing 11 games across the season for them. They are the only two players that player more than ten games for their loan club. The majority sit in 2 - 6 games played. Of the 27 players who spent time in the Championship, only 7 amassed 400+ minutes on the field. Again, there is a caveat with players like Gus Hall, Mitchellow and Wills who matched that with good game time for their firsts. But there are plenty of examples like Ollie Scola who played 6 Championship games at an average of 15 minutes per game.

Europe:
14 players played Champions Cup rugby this season, 6 of which are still U20s this season. Pollock is the obvious standout, with 6 games and 393 minutes. 5 players managed over 100 minutes of Champions Cup rugby. Pollock, AOF, Waghorn, Hall and Kpoku, who also played 171 minutes of Challenge Cup rugby for Racing92. Joe Bailey was the only Exeter Chiefs players to get any European experience, with 9 minutes off the bench against Ulster.

The Challenge Cup was a bit dryer, with only 7 players getting any game time, 2 of which also played Champions Cup rugby (Kapok & Tuipolotu). 3 of the 7 were all from the same club, that being Newcastle Falcons with Spencer, Redshaw and Davis. Spencer, Redshaw and Spoke all wracked up over 100 minutes of Challenge Cup game time.

International recognition:
4 players got England A recognition in AOF, Fasogbon, McParland and Pollock, with AOF and Pollock going on to full honours. And of course Pollock ended the season on the Lions tour, with AOF and Fasogbon touring with England.


Overall:
Bellamy leads with way with minutes played, but that is largely at U20 and Championship level, with 23 games and 1,543 minutes played. AOF leads in games played with 28 games this season and 1,446 minutes. There are 13 players with over 20 games played this season, 6 of which are those who graduated from U20s last season. 36 players played 10 games or more. Again caveat that those who just played U20s could have played 10 games of that alone this season.

10 players played over 1,000 minutes; Poloock, Kpoku and AOF doing that largely from first team rugby. 8 players played less than 100 minutes of Championship level rugby or above. 4 of which were U20 graduates last season, who between them amassed a whopping 131 minutes of rugby at this level.

It very much feels like we’re a long way from where we should be in terms of talent development. Stats are always skewed by injuries etc. but it feels, and I think the stats back it up, very disjointed. This is the most crucial period as players move into the professional arena. They are arguably more ready than they have ever been in terms of what schools rugby now provides, but then are we maximising their pathway? I don’t think so. Not to date.

I the nk we’re developing very high potential age grade players with a conveyor belt system that has matured greatly and then producing internationals almost in spite of ourselves, or based purely on individual talent. What is coming out of the school system to their first professional season being 2025/26 is even better still.

[Danno]

Good insight as always EP, and very interesting. Cheers.

[FKAS]

Sam Williams was a regular for Notts until his injury in December 446 mins as well as three Prem Cup games. Didn't play again until England under 20s some five months later.

Tom Threlfall who's under 20s eligible but not selected had 405 mins in the Championship and 135 mins in the PRC. Seemed to be Notts starting 10 by the end of the season. Be interesting to see if he starts the new season there as well.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Sam Williams was a regular for Notts until his injury in December 446 mins as well as three Prem Cup games. Didn't play again until England under 20s some five months later.

Tom Threlfall who's under 20s eligible but not selected had 405 mins in the Championship and 135 mins in the PRC. Seemed to be Notts starting 10 by the end of the season. Be interesting to see if he starts the new season there as well.

4 starts and 4 bench appearances in the Champ. Started the last two games and played all but 9 minutes of those games. 12 games overall in the season at that level (9 for Notts and 3 for Tigers) amassing 539 minutes.

[FKAS]

Sam Williams was a regular for Notts until his injury in December 446 mins as well as three Prem Cup games. Didn't play again until England under 20s some five months later.

Tom Threlfall who's under 20s eligible but not selected had 405 mins in the Championship and 135 mins in the PRC. Seemed to be Notts starting 10 by the end of the season. Be interesting to see if he starts the new season there as well.

4 starts and 4 bench appearances in the Champ. Started the last two games and played all but 9 minutes of those games. 12 games overall in the season at that level (9 for Notts and 3 for Tigers) amassing 539 minutes.

That's the one. Finished the season well, still 19 so if he can carry that into the new season and get a full Champ campaign under his belt as the starter (or at least rotated starter) then he should develop nicely. Good PRC appearances seemed to help him get a chance in the Champ, coming off the bench in the drubbing away to the much stronger Saints side and setting up a consolation try with pretty much his first touch was a good introduction.