Europe a developmental tool for Worcester and Newcastle

The European Rugby Challenge Cup is a hard sell at the pool stage.

Some teams choose to pick second XVs, preferring to concentrate on their domestic competitions rather than risk their most important players to an injury in a competition that they are unlikely to win.

It’s an approach that French teams have long taken to the tournament and it seems to be one that Worcester Warriors and Newcastle Falcons, two teams wary of relegation from the Aviva Premiership, have also chosen to take this season.

Both teams suffered embarrassing losses in the opening round of the competition, with Newcastle being dismantled by the Ospreys in Swansea, losing 45-0, and Worcester falling to a 19-12 defeat at the hands of Enisei-STM in Moscow.

Coaches Carl Hogg and Dean Richards have clearly prioritised Premiership survival and though they picked weakened sides, there was a clear focus on youth and development in both matchday squads.

Newcastle turned to a number of academy players, such as Brett Connon, David Nelson and Callum Chick, as well handing starts to younger members of the first team, such as Will Witty, Harrison Orr and Craig Willis.

Worcester went even further, almost completely cutting any kind of experience out of their squad. Current England U20s Jamie Shillcock, Will Butler and Zac Xiourouppa all featured, whilst graduates from that squad last season Huw Taylor, Jack Singleton and Andrew Kitchener were also involved.

The average age of the Newcastle team was 24.2 years of age and even with a couple of 30-somethings in David Wilson and Mouritz Botha pulling the average up, it was still the youngest 23 fielded by Newcastle this season.

As for Worcester, their team average of 22.9 years was the lowest of any Premiership club this season.

Heading into the second round of fixtures, Newcastle recalled some of their more experienced players for the visit to Kingston Park of Grenoble, but Worcester showed faith in their young squad when they welcomed Brive to Sixways.

The Warriors used the game to welcome back Chris Pennell and Ben Te’o, as both players continue their rehab from injuries, but otherwise retained most of the young squad which had they had taken to Russia a week previous.

With Newcastle not financially able to match the spending power of some of the Premiership’s bigger clubs and Worcester not yet the lure that many of the teams above them are, the productivity of both clubs’ academies is of paramount importance.

Realistically, with teams like Harlequins, Bath, Ospreys and Cardiff Blues in the Challenge Cup this season, neither team has a great shot at taking home the trophy and using the competition to develop these younger players is a common sense decision for both Hogg and Richards.

In fact, with Worcester contributing more members to the England U20 squad than any other club for the second year running, there is clearly something very impressive going on at that academy level at Sixways.

The loss at the hands of Enisei-STM will sting the club’s pride, of that there can be no doubt, but it should prove a very valuable lesson to those young players as they bid to break into the Worcester first team and get a taste of Premiership rugby.

Both Worcester and Newcastle need to show their emerging players that they can develop and fulfil their rugby ambitions on home soil and don’t need to go to one of the ‘bigger’ clubs in the Premiership to continue their rugby education.

These relatively low-profile European games are a stepping stone to that goal.