Where are they now - Midlands
Welcome to the first in a new series of articles on Talking Rugby Union, looking back at the 2010 U18 English Divisional Rugby Festival. The event was packed with talent that would eventually go on to earn recognition not only at age-grade level, but also at Aviva Premiership and even England senior levels.
The annual festival, which is contested between combined London and South East, South West, Midlands and North teams, plays host to some of the most talented and exciting rugby prospects in the country. Over the next four weeks we will look at each squad in turn and take a look at which of their respective players have gone on to make a name for themselves in the rugby world.
We start with the Midlands squad and unfortunately it’s a stark reminder of just how difficult it is to make the transition from age-grade talent to fully-fledged professional rugby player. Of the 25 players that represented the Midlands squad at the festival, just two now make a living as professional rugby players.
The Midlands side ultimately finished the tournament in third, having lost in the first round to a talented South West outfit, but did manage to beat a North side with plenty of future professionals, 27-6 at the tournament’s conclusion. The gift of hindsight makes that look like a tremendous victory for the Midlands, as will become clear when we delve into the North squad next week.
As then Northampton Saints academy winger De La Rey Veenendaal was the highlight of the back line, but was unfortunately able to translate that potential into a senior deal with the club. Full-back Jim Wigglesworth, out of Trent College, has found the most success from the Midland’s back division, earning himself a senior deal with Bedford Blues and regularly turning out for the club in the RFU Championship.
Their careers may not have resulted in professional deals, but backs Harry Sanders and Luke Veebel have gone on to have success within rugby, with Sanders captaining the University of Bath’s sevens team as they were named university champions of Europe, whilst Veebel followed up a spell in Leicester Tigers’ academy by representing the Estonian national team.
There was more joy for the pack however, as flanker Tom Nutley enjoyed a couple of seasons with Bedford and fellow back row George Oliver impressed in Leicester’s academy, whilst he also featured in a short loan stint with Rotherham. Prop Ryan Furniss was another to have a measure of success, spending a season with the Worcester Warriors, as well as representing the Ireland U20 side at the 2013 Junior World Championship.
One player has surpassed all those mentioned however and that is Northampton Saints’ Ethan Waller. The starting loosehead for the Midlands team, Waller has gone on to become one of the more highly-touted young props in the Premiership, following impressive loan stints with both Coventry and Moseley in the lower divisions. The 22-year old has 44 appearances for Northampton to date, including appearances in the knockout stages of European competition, and was rewarded for his fine displays with Northampton’s Young Player of the Season award at the conclusion of the 2013/14 season.
Waller certainly adds gloss to a team that couldn’t quite make the impact at the professional level that they did at age-grade, but it illustrates the size of the gulf that has to be traversed when making the leap from promising academy or school player to the senior level. Check in next week when we will be looking at the North team, that although finishing fourth at the festival, has offered up a plethora of talented players currently plying their trade at the highest domestic level.
