Aviva Premiership Academy Watch: Part 1

Following on from our recent ‘Up and Coming’ series, we will now look to shine a light on the academies of the Aviva Premiership.

We will indentify the hottest prospects from each of the clubs’ academies, as well as making a note of some other names to look out for in the near future.
We start with the academies of Bath, Exeter Chiefs and Gloucester, who aside from all being neighbours in the South-West, also all have proud histories of prodigiously producing their own talent.

Bath Rugby
Bath have taken a fair amount of flak over the last couple of seasons for their apparent ‘buy first, develop second’ policy, but they currently have an academy squad which can more than hold its own against any of their Premiership rivals. Charlie Ewels has already made the step up to semi-regular senior rugby, impressing in every opportunity he has been given and there are plenty of candidates ready to follow in his footsteps.

Hot Prospect – Beno Obano, Prop
A product of Dulwich College, which in rugby terms is akin to a degree with honours from Oxford or Cambridge University; Obano has some lofty expectations upon him after impressing considerably in two Daily Mail Cup-winning campaigns. A back injury brought his career in the Wasps academy to a premature end, but Bath have given him a second opportunity and under the tutelage of scrum coach Neal Hatley, Obano looks set to reward them appropriately.
Powerful carrying is a given for Obano, who used to play on the wing at times for Dulwich College, but if he can develop his scrummaging technique under Hatley’s watchful eye, then he has the potential to be very special at the next level. He is also the cousin of Saracens lock Maro Itoje.

Other Noteworthy Names
Fly-half Rory Jennings, centre Max Clark and hooker Tom Woolstencroft head up the remainder of the current crop. Woolstencroft was a Junior World Championship-winner in 2014, whilst Jennings and Clarke are set to help England’s bid to retain that title this year.
Opportunities for Jennings and Woolstencroft will be difficult to come by outside of the LV= Cup next season, as they will have to compete with the likes of Rhys Priestland, Ollie Devoto and Ross Batty for a place in Bath’s pecking order, but Clarke could be on course to make an impact sooner, rather than later. The trio of Sam Burgess, Kyle Eastmond and Jonathan Joseph are all in or around the England squad, whilst Burgess could also yet be moved to the back row, potentially creating plenty of opportunities for Clarke, particularly during international periods.

Exeter Chiefs
After producing four of the most highly-touted prospects in the country in Luke Cowan-Dickie, Henry Slade, Sam Hill and Jack Nowell over the last couple of years, you could forgive the Exeter academy for a quiet year or two to follow. That, however, is far from the case and Exeter’s Premiership rivals should be warned that there looks to be no let up from the Devon-based club.
The Chiefs currently cast a wide net; picking up the best talent Cornwall and Devon has to offer, thanks to their affiliations with Truro, Bicton and Ivybridge Colleges, whilst many of their players are afforded competitive senior rugby at an early age, due to links with the Cornish Pirates and Plymouth Albion.

Hot Prospect – Jack Stanley, Prop
Stanley is a physically imposing tighthead, who despite being just 18 years of age, already looks like a man against boys in academy and international age-grade matches. The 2014/15 season has been a good one for Stanley, as the Truro College product has featured for both the Chiefs in their LV= Cup campaign, as well as the England U18s side.
A season or two to mature with the Cornish Pirates or Plymouth Albion in the IPA Green King Championship could beckon for Stanley, but the Chiefs have consistently shown that if they believe a player is good enough, then he is old enough. Even if Stanley is dual-registered, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine him featuring more regularly for Exeter next season, especially with Thomas Francis now on Wales’ radar.

Other Noteworthy Names
As you might expect, there is no shortage of other talented players in Exeter’s academy, which currently includes scrum-half Stuart Townsend and the back row trio of Joel Conlon, Declan Matthews and Sam Skinner.
Townsend is a well-balanced nine, capable of hurting teams with his distribution, running and kicking, and will likely be England’s starting scrum-half at this year’s JWC in Italy. Conlon has enjoyed a productive season having been dual-registered with the Cornish Pirates, whilst Skinner and Matthews have both impressed the Chiefs’ academy side, the former of whom is also currently a member of the England U20s side.

Gloucester Rugby
Similarly to Exeter, the success of Gloucester’s academy has a lot to do with their affiliation to a particular school, namely Hartpury College. The pathway from Hartpury College to the Gloucester academy is one that many players have taken over the years, including current Cherry and Whites Jonny May and Henry Trinder, and is set to remain a productive conveyor belt of talent for years to come.

Hot Prospect – Joe Batley, Back Row
Look up ‘physical specimen’ in the dictionary and you might well see a picture of Batley. The former Hartpury College player is 6’ 7”, weighs in at just over 18 stone and generally tears around the pitch with the athleticism of a much smaller player. Combine those physical assets Batley brings to the mix with the lack of a game-changing presence of late in the Gloucester pack and he is a candidate to step up to the senior squad immediately.
Batley’s time as Hartpury College’s captain will likely have marked him as a player head coach Lawrie Fisher believes could become a leader in the Gloucester pack over the next few seasons, but if he believes Batley needs more time to develop, dual-registering him with Hartpury RFC in National One remains a possibility for the 2015/16 season.

Other Noteworthy Names
Henry Purdy has taken the step up to senior rugby in his stride this season and centre Ollie Thorley looks to follow in his footsteps over the remainder of the 2014/15 season, particularly with Trinder continuing to suffer from a horrendous run of injuries.
Back rower Lewis Ludlow and full-back Will Hayward are other names to keep an eye on, but if there is one worry for Gloucester, it would be the lack of premiere tight five prospects coming through, which aside from Elliot Stooke, has been a noticeable issue over the last few seasons.