Young Players I’d like to see more of 20/21 Edition

[Scrumhead]

I usually do this before the season kicks off, but better late than never.

Here’s my team:

1. Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints)
2. Alfie Barbeary (Wasps)
3. Marcus Street (Exeter Chiefs)
4. George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
5. Hugh Tizard (Harlequins)
6. Jack Clement (Gloucester)
7. Aaron Hinkley (Exeter Chiefs)
8. Tom Willis (Wasps)
9. Sam Wolstenholme (Wasps)
10. Tom de Glanville (Bath)
11. Josh Hodge (Exeter Chiefs)
12. Cameron Redpath (Bath)
13. Luke Northmore (Harlequins)
14. Noah Heward (Worcester Warriors)
15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)

A little bit of creative license with positions for de Glanville and Hodge, but overall that’s a solid group of interesting players IMO.

Northmore is a touch older, but is still only a year in to pro rugby. He’s getting a decent amount of game time for Quins now and looks like he’s developing nicely.

[Banquo]

See more of in what context?

[Puja]

See more of in what context?

Marcus Street's a very good looking young man.

I agree with scrumhead on his XV. I want to see all of those getting semi-regular Premiership rugby this season. Iyogun especially - I was really impressed with how well he coped with getting thrown in at the deep end last year and how much he improved just a couple of weeks after being tuned by Cole in his first game. Shows signs of a good heart to go with a good head.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

See more of in what context?

Well I was hoping they’d release a 2021 calendar but I just couldn’t bring myself to whittle it down to only 12.

In all seriousness, I’d like to see all of them continue to get first team rugby. Barbeary, Willis, Redpath, Northmore, de Glanville and Steward are all a bit further down that track, but Tizard had an excellent full debut last weekend and most of the others are at least knocking on the door.

[fivepointer]

You'd like to think that most of those players will get regular opportunities. Plenty of talent there.

A few other names to consider: Max Ojomoh, Arron Reed, Chunya Munga, Ben Donnell, Will Capon, Charlie Atkinson and Ollie Sleightholme.

Wonder if Rus Tuima will get some exposure at Exeter.

[jimKRFC]

Will Capon

Capon's be around the first team squad for the past couple of seasons now, hopefully he'll push to be a starter this season.

From Bristol I'm hoping that the following get game time:

Fitz Harding - back row, brought in from Bristol Uni (or UWE) after being spotted. Lam likens him to Dombrandt
Blake Boyland - 9, another promising youngster needs to get past Cook & Kessel for the 3rd choice spot
Deago Bailey - Wing, looked the business at junior levels & has some quality to learn from now.

[Banquo]

See more of in what context?

Well I was hoping they’d release a 2021 calendar but I just couldn’t bring myself to whittle it down to only 12.

In all seriousness, I’d like to see all of them continue to get first team rugby. Barbeary, Willis, Redpath, Northmore, de Glanville and Steward are all a bit further down that track, but Tizard had an excellent full debut last weekend and most of the others are at least knocking on the door.

Ah ok- was thinking you were proposing for national honours

[Oakboy]

Two questions:
Will most of these youngsters get significant game time without moves to reduce the numbers of foreign players in our game?
Is ring-fencing the premiership necessary to get younger English players in starting XVs at an earlier age?

I would love to see more young English players starting. Our game needs some new ideas and it seems to me that the current talent pool is too good to waste. Maybe, we should have a premiership EQ under-22 competition as the only games to clash with international fixtures.

[Scrumhead]

Part of the reason I went for the 15 I did is because I feel like they all have a good chance of getting game time. The restart was actually pretty useful in giving a few players the opportunity to establish themselves - Tom Willis and Cam Redpath are starting regularly now for example.

It’s not just these 15 players I’d like to see more of. I just went with those I felt were most promising in each position.

I haven’t seen him play, but apparently Lewis Holsey, a young loosehead at Worcester, is very good and is likely to make a breakthrough this season. Alan Solomons has talked him up quite a bit. Beck Cutting looked good for them after the restart too.

My big hope is for a scrum half to emerge.

I went for Wolstenholme at Wasps primarily because I think he’s the most likely to get a bit more game time - particularly if Robson establishes himself with England. He had a full season playing at senior level in the Championship before joining Wasps so has a bit of experience to build upon.

Most of the other options who look promising, Fox (Bath), Quirke (Sale), Chapman (Gloucester) and van Poortvliet (Tigers) seem miles away from first team action.

I’d definitely be in favour of an under 22 competition (or similar).

[Stom]

Two questions:
Will most of these youngsters get significant game time without moves to reduce the numbers of foreign players in our game?
Is ring-fencing the premiership necessary to get younger English players in starting XVs at an earlier age?

I would love to see more young English players starting. Our game needs some new ideas and it seems to me that the current talent pool is too good to waste. Maybe, we should have a premiership EQ under-22 competition as the only games to clash with international fixtures.

They seem to be getting game time. Of the list above, all of them have had some gametime over the end of last season and beginning of this one. And many of them have had extended gametime.

I'd say it's generally working well, though the sudden influx of South Africans is a problem.

[Tigersman]

Trying to think of a Tigers U22 team would look like
1. Whitcombe
2. Vanes
3. Heyes
4. Henderson
5. Martin
6. Ilione
7. Reffell
8. Smith
9. JVP
10. Hardwick
11. Browning
12. Kelly
13. Potter (although 23 next month I guess)
14. Olowofella
15. Steward

16.
17. Rowntree
18. Dimen
19. Chessum
20. Smith
21. Edwards
22. Law
23.

Could bring in some of ex tigers who are at lough uni Harding, Phoneix, Ollie Smith etc.

[fivepointer]

Two questions:
Will most of these youngsters get significant game time without moves to reduce the numbers of foreign players in our game?
Is ring-fencing the premiership necessary to get younger English players in starting XVs at an earlier age?

I would love to see more young English players starting. Our game needs some new ideas and it seems to me that the current talent pool is too good to waste. Maybe, we should have a premiership EQ under-22 competition as the only games to clash with international fixtures.

The better players will get opportunities, though its dependent on what team they play for, international callups and whether the coaches want to give them exposure. Its not uniform and some clubs are a lot better then others.
I'd be very surprised if ring fencing didnt see an increase in more young players and more EQP generally in the Premiership.
Ring fencing could come with it greater demands to see home gown players amongst some other obligations. So you are under no threat of relegation (at least in the short term) but have to do more to develop your own talent and rely a lot less on imports. Such a trade off appeals to me.
I quite like the idea of some sort of age group competition. We produce a lot of good 17-21 year olds and transitioning them into senior rugby has been a recurring problem. Any kind of regular, competitive fixtures would be really useful.

[Oakboy]

Presumably, with no international fixture clashes and fewer foreign players, assuming that the salary caps were unchanged, more young players could be employed whilst maintaining decent 1st XV playing squads.

[Tigersman]

I guess in theory a ring fence league would mean clubs struggling with money could take the risk of the cheaper younger EQP players with the view of long term benefit, without fear of a relegation.

[Stom]

I think it's likely we're going to see a reduction in foreign players after brexit no matter, so I'd wait on any other ideas until that settles. Who knows, some of these imports might have their permits denied when renewing contracts. The squad filler ones, at least.

[Epaminondas Pules]

With youngsters breaking through there are many factors to consider. A big amount comes down to luck. A few injuries and you get a shot and maybe you do well enough to hold it down.

[Epaminondas Pules]

I usually do this before the season kicks off, but better late than never.

Here’s my team:

1. Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints)
2. Alfie Barbeary (Wasps)
3. Marcus Street (Exeter Chiefs)
4. George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
5. Hugh Tizard (Harlequins)
6. Jack Clement (Gloucester)
7. Aaron Hinkley (Exeter Chiefs)
8. Tom Willis (Wasps)
9. Sam Wolstenholme (Wasps)
10. Tom de Glanville (Bath)
11. Josh Hodge (Exeter Chiefs)
12. Cameron Redpath (Bath)
13. Luke Northmore (Harlequins)
14. Noah Heward (Worcester Warriors)
15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)

A little bit of creative license with positions for de Glanville and Hodge, but overall that’s a solid group of interesting players IMO.

Northmore is a touch older, but is still only a year in to pro rugby. He’s getting a decent amount of game time for Quins now and looks like he’s developing nicely.

Those I'd consider outside of this.

Deago Bailey - Wing - Bris. Looked very sharp at age grade
Charlie Atkinson - FH - Wasps. Most of you will know him as Faz's crash test dummy. One of a grouyp of super talented fly halves coming through together.
Fin Smith - FH - Wuss. The pcik of the aforementioned 10s
Guy Pepper - Openside - Newcastle. Standout openside in the last two seasons.
Orlando Bayley - FH / IC - Bath. Classy 12 or 10 coming through Bath's ranks. One of those players who seemed to glide through age grade rugby.
Chunya Munga - Lock - LI. Same age group as George Martin. He and Martin looked a level above their peers.
Sam Riley - Hooker - Quins. Would've been the talk of the town had it not been for a certain Alfie Barbeary in the same age group. Pushed him all the way throughout schools.


Some for starters.

[FKAS]

What's going on with George Barton at Glaws? He was supposed to be the bright young thing coming through at flyhalf. I think he was playing England under 20s early in the year.

[Raggs]

Well, Barbeary is at 8 this weekend. Now we just need to see him at 2! I do think he's still planned at 2 though, but for now they just want him on the pitch, and it's understandable why.

[Banquo]

Well, Barbeary is at 8 this weekend. Now we just need to see him at 2! I do think he's still planned at 2 though, but for now they just want him on the pitch, and it's understandable why.

Fair play to Wasps.

[twitchy]

Does anyone remember the number 8 at sale that wales online made a big fuss about (qualified for both eng/wal)?

[fivepointer]

SAm Moore. Hardly got a game at Sale now with Cardiff.

[16th man]

Always somewhat reticent with the younger props and locks (though to a lesser extent) that we don't push them up against fully developed pros too much too soon. Some exposure is great but you run the risk of another Corbs situation where they should be coming into their prime in their mid 20s but they're broken and disillusioned from being physically stressed too much before their bodies are fully developed.

[Puja]

Always somewhat reticent with the younger props and locks (though to a lesser extent) that we don't push them up against fully developed pros too much too soon. Some exposure is great but you run the risk of another Corbs situation where they should be coming into their prime in their mid 20s but they're broken and disillusioned from being physically stressed too much before their bodies are fully developed.

In contrast to the way we've abused some of our previous props, I think the way Street is being managed at Exeter is absolutely exemplary. They've given him regular opportunities off the bench, even in big games, but made sure they're never reliant on him or requiring him to play when they don't want him to. They signed Maks van Dyk this season to cover for internationals and haven't needed him because Williams has been unneeded by England, but they've had the foresight to plan ahead so that one injury or one callup doesn't leave Street needing to act as the senior tighthead at the club.

He's only 21, compared to Williams at 29 and Francis at 28 (and likely to need to go to Wales at some point), so you'd say there was a clear pathway for him if he keeps getting better. Absolutely pin-perfect development technique from Exeter.

Puja

[Epaminondas Pules]

What's going on with George Barton at Glaws? He was supposed to be the bright young thing coming through at flyhalf. I think he was playing England under 20s early in the year.

Yeah, he’s played three times for the U20s. He looked pretty decent at schools and U18s, but hasn’t pushed on yet into the senior team. 2 or 3 appearances and a couple of Prem cup ones too. He’s only just turned 20 mind.

The year below him with Smith, Atkinson and Bayley looks a better standard, but all four are decent prospects.