http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rug...icle6841863.ece
The recession has hurt many businesses and professional rugby is no exception, but there is an upside. Hard times have created good times for the young players who have been stars of the England Under-20 squads of the past 18 months, but might have thought they would have to wait for their opportunity in senior rugby. Over the second weekend of the Guinness Premiership, the entire back division that played in the Under-20 World Championship final against New Zealand last summer started for their respective clubs. In the Premiership, Alex Goode and Noah Cato appeared for Saracens, Jordan Turner-Hall played for Harlequins, Alex Tait for Newcastle Falcons and Miles Benjamin for Worcester Warriors, while London Wasps fielded Joe Simpson. In the Championship, Luke Eves turned out for Bristol. In the third round of matches at the weekend, 18 of the young guns featured in some shape or form.
It is not only backs who are making the impact, even though you would expect them to do so earlier than their forward colleagues. Calum Clark has been playing in the Leeds Carnegie back row since he was 17, Bob Baker has popped up in the Wasps front row and James Gaskell, who has played lock for England’s 16 group, 18 group and under-20s, has played on the blind-side flank for Sale Sharks and moved to lock against Bath.
“A year ago people would have said, ‘Who?’ †Kingsley Jones, the Sale director of rugby, said of Gaskell. “He’s only 19 and the only way he’ll get better is by playing.â€
All over the Premiership, the signs are there of a very un-English trust in youth, which is good news for the senior England management; in times past they have known about talented youngsters eager to make their way but held back by sitting on replacement benches watching expensive or experienced overseas players preferred in the starting XV.
“It’s a combination of factors,†Rob Andrew, the RFU’s director of elite rugby, said. “Because of the recession, squad sizes have been cut, some expensive overseas players have gone and the product of the club academies is getting better all the time. The performance of the age-grade sides at world level prove we are getting better. Directors of rugby are more comfortable putting them in their Premiership squads.â€
England have appeared in the past two world under-20 finals, beaten on both occasions by New Zealand, to whom they compared favourably for size and strength, less favourably in agility and the core skills. The under-18s beat South Africa 45-13 in August and Brendan Venter, the Saracens director of rugby and former Springbok centre, believes that side to be emotionally far more developed than their South Africa or France counterparts.
It may be no coincidence that one of the first to trust in the next generation was Eddie Jones when he was coaching Saracens last season: Australians have always embraced youth more readily and Jones promoted Goode, Cato and Andy Saull. Now Venter, having taken over from Jones, takes it a step farther; that trio turned out at Wembley against Northampton but Venter has also asked Jamie George to captain the Saracens development side, the Storm, this season and George, a hooker, is only 18.
“All these kids want is for you to believe in them,†Venter said. “The respect the senior players have for them is immense. They’re uncontaminated, they work hard, they’re disciplined, they’re honest.â€
Gaskell, 19, is a good example of the emerging talent. He has come from Sandbach School through the England under-16 and under-18 sides to the under-20s. He recognises that injuries to players such as Kristian Ormsby have helped to give him his start at Sale this season and that he has three or four more years of physical development ahead.
“I’m being picked because of what I do already and they don’t want to change me, they don’t want me like a robot,†he said. “Playing against Leicester was a big step up from anything I’d done before, it’s the physicality that takes you by surprise.â€
Goode, now playing full back for Saracens rather than his representative position of fly half, had measured himself against the best in the world at his age, players such as David Pocock and Quaid Cooper, the Australians who are now senior internationals, and seeks to make the same journey for England. “You hope, when the chance comes, that your skill-set and composure will allow you to cope,†Goode, 21, said. “When Eddie came, it was brilliant for me; he had confidence in youth and he backed us.â€
Andrew insists that clubs recognise the need to produce their own players rather than buying in stars and that the financial incentive provided by the RFU gives them even greater reason for taking the England-qualified road. “Not all of the youngsters will become senior internationals but there is a conveyor belt of talent being produced,†he said. “There have been too many peaks and troughs in English rugby. You’ll always get minor ones, but we don’t want to dip so deeply again â€" the falling down is painful, so is the climb back up.â€[/b]
