One by one, we introduced ourselves around the room. 'Hello I'm David, I am a minis coach from Stevenage'. 'Hello, my name is Steven, I coach my local club's 2nd XV' and so on. Everyone had to do it, including myself. This was the opening activity of my RFU Level 1 Coaching Qualification, and I was already bored. Not the instructors fault, I have the attention span of a hyperactive primate.
The first bullet point, and I'm paraphrasing here, said something along the lines of 'Rugby is a later developing sport'. It was explained to us, the concept that rugby requires such a variety of skill, technical know-how and physical demands, that ability in the game can be directly related to the biological, psychological and sociological development of any individual player. In short, some players get it quicker than others.
Now what do Tom Johnson, Ben Morgan, Chris Ashton, Brad Barritt, Dylan Hartley and Mouritz Botha have in common? Give up? They have represented England within the last twelve months but have never played for an England age group team.
Surprised? Maybe not. But there has to be a message there somewhere. Please don't read this as an attack on the RFU in finding and nurturing young talent. All you have to do is reel off names like Danny Care, Ben Foden and Manu Tuilagi to know not to pull at that thread. But is the RFU doing enough to identify talent that may have slipped through the net? No one could blame them if they're not, such is the enormity of the task with around 2,000,000 players involved on some level in England alone. But why doesn't the RFU look beyond academies as the future of the game?
As I said before, one of the the first things the RFU teaches its coaches is that some players don't develop into a good player until very late in the day. Courtney Lawes only started to play when he was sixteen years old. Sixteen! Luckily his class won out and he was playing representative rugby by eighteen, and yes you could argue that this is evidence of a successful system. The fact that people like Lawes, Morgan and Johnson didn't make the grade early on but ultimately pushed their way in could be evidence to say all is well. My point is this, for every player that makes it 'the hard way' be it through club or university rugby, I'd hazard that there are three of four more who have simply been overlooked and with the right direction from the top, could be genuine contenders for Premiership and even international honours.
Phil Chesters seems a good example. The Ealing Trailfinders wing scored 42 tries last season and at one stage was averaging 2.1 tries a game. He broke Chris Ashton's try scoring record for crying out loud but he remains at Ealing. Now they are a fine club and helping keep the game alive in the area, but has someone not called him and said if he was ready for the big time? Number Eight Andrew Daish of Old Albanians is another, and he has played a good standard of representative rugby, had a stormer of a season last term and could probably play Championship rugby, if not higher.
I could have this all wrong and the players I've mentioned enjoy the standard they are at and are content, and more power to them. Ultimately it's about enjoying the game and this doesn't necessarily mean chasing fully professional rugby. But I bet there are players that would bite the hand off anyone offering a Premiership contract, even if they end up dual registered, and these players should be the focus of the RFU once they have exhausted representative age groups and academies as a source. Maybe then we would stop having to look to Southern Hemisphere players qualifying through residency and stand-out rugby league players, as much as I may like watching them.
Do we need a committee or permanent scouting networks to ensure that those with above average stats and mentions in match reports are looked at? Does something already exist like this? I don't know, but we can't rely on the philanthropic nature of lower division coaches to make the RFU and Premiership aware of their talent, it must be sought.
I'm back in the classroom, daydream over. Were now talking about key skills we are trying to teach young players. 'Communication' someone says, my mind begins to wander again.
Our eyes were directed to the big screen at the back of the classroom and we were given the outline for the weekend, starting with a brief introduction to the concept of 'player development'.
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| Could Phil Chesters cut it in the Premiership? |
If the opening activity nearly put me into a boredom based coma, this statement snapped me right out if it like a shot of adrenaline to the brain.
Now what do Tom Johnson, Ben Morgan, Chris Ashton, Brad Barritt, Dylan Hartley and Mouritz Botha have in common? Give up? They have represented England within the last twelve months but have never played for an England age group team.
Surprised? Maybe not. But there has to be a message there somewhere. Please don't read this as an attack on the RFU in finding and nurturing young talent. All you have to do is reel off names like Danny Care, Ben Foden and Manu Tuilagi to know not to pull at that thread. But is the RFU doing enough to identify talent that may have slipped through the net? No one could blame them if they're not, such is the enormity of the task with around 2,000,000 players involved on some level in England alone. But why doesn't the RFU look beyond academies as the future of the game?
As I said before, one of the the first things the RFU teaches its coaches is that some players don't develop into a good player until very late in the day. Courtney Lawes only started to play when he was sixteen years old. Sixteen! Luckily his class won out and he was playing representative rugby by eighteen, and yes you could argue that this is evidence of a successful system. The fact that people like Lawes, Morgan and Johnson didn't make the grade early on but ultimately pushed their way in could be evidence to say all is well. My point is this, for every player that makes it 'the hard way' be it through club or university rugby, I'd hazard that there are three of four more who have simply been overlooked and with the right direction from the top, could be genuine contenders for Premiership and even international honours.
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| Untapped Resource: National 1 and 2 |
Phil Chesters seems a good example. The Ealing Trailfinders wing scored 42 tries last season and at one stage was averaging 2.1 tries a game. He broke Chris Ashton's try scoring record for crying out loud but he remains at Ealing. Now they are a fine club and helping keep the game alive in the area, but has someone not called him and said if he was ready for the big time? Number Eight Andrew Daish of Old Albanians is another, and he has played a good standard of representative rugby, had a stormer of a season last term and could probably play Championship rugby, if not higher.
I could have this all wrong and the players I've mentioned enjoy the standard they are at and are content, and more power to them. Ultimately it's about enjoying the game and this doesn't necessarily mean chasing fully professional rugby. But I bet there are players that would bite the hand off anyone offering a Premiership contract, even if they end up dual registered, and these players should be the focus of the RFU once they have exhausted representative age groups and academies as a source. Maybe then we would stop having to look to Southern Hemisphere players qualifying through residency and stand-out rugby league players, as much as I may like watching them.
Do we need a committee or permanent scouting networks to ensure that those with above average stats and mentions in match reports are looked at? Does something already exist like this? I don't know, but we can't rely on the philanthropic nature of lower division coaches to make the RFU and Premiership aware of their talent, it must be sought.
I'm back in the classroom, daydream over. Were now talking about key skills we are trying to teach young players. 'Communication' someone says, my mind begins to wander again.
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