The NextGen needs to be close at hand
IT WAS great to see the World Rugby U20 Championship back in full swing and it was a pretty cathartic exercise for the Welsh team. Wins over Japan and Romania may have been the highlights, but scoring five tries against a powerful Junior Wallabies team and getting within a point of New Zealand were also creditable performances.
After their whitewash in the Six Nations it was proof enough that there is plenty of talent in the group.
The squad will arrive home from South Africa today and what happens next to Ryan Woodman and his players is vital. His group becomes one of the most important in Welsh rugby. They are the NextGen.
Nine of the players who were in Switzerland with Warren Gatland's World Cup training squad played in the 2019 World Rugby U20 tournament. Ten, in fact, if you included Taine Plumtree, who played for New Zealand.
So, whoever is in charge of planning in the high-performance department at the WRU – Huw Bevan or John Alder – needs to stick close to the ‘Class of 23'. From what I saw there are definitely players who will be pushing for senior honours in four years' time in a similar fashion to Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan and Rio Dyer from 2019.
The important thing is they are given the time to grow into the senior game, rather than be discarded before they get their chance to shine. It might be a bit too soon for some of them to be propelled into the regional ranks straight away, although that might be necessary given the current financial plight of the regions. I just hope they don't treat them as cannon fodder, but properly nurture the talent that is on their books.
The skipper Woodman has already been blooded by the Dragons, even though he has another year at U20 level to come. Everyone has been quite rightly raving about No.8 Morgan Morse, but he has two more years to come at this level. Should he be given a chance with the Ospreys at the start of the season? Off the bench, perhaps, but he'd be better off playing regular rugby in the Indigo Premiership.
That will give him the rugby background he needs, while training with the regional team. Forwards do take more time to come through and that second tier is vital in their development. That's why the change from the current Premiership system to a more streamlined and competitive competition in 2024-25 is so vital. Many of the current U20 players are coming to the end of their academy contracts. It is a time when judgments are made on their suitability for the pro game. That may be down to finances, but it seems the wrong age to me to be deciding if a player is going to make it.
Perhaps we've got it all wrong. Maybe it would be better for the eight or 10 clubs (yet to be decided) who will make up the second tier if they were used as junior academies and their parent bodies, the four regions, should then contract into a transition academy the pick of the bunch at 20.
Those they don't need could then continue to be nurtured by the semi-pro clubs and push for a second or third chance. That would keep the costs and the dropout rate down.
When I was 21, I wasn't deemed to be good enough to break through at the top level. Things changed as I got a bit older, but I could easily have been lost to the game had it not been for my local club, Amman United.
When standards increase at the second tier level, then there will be more ‘finishing schools' for the best of our young talent to hone their skills.
I liked the look of the two wings, Llien Morgan and Tom Florence, who are both at the Ospreys. Are they better than George North, Alex Cuthbert, Luke Morgan, Keelan Giles or Mat Protheroe? Not at the moment, but they could be in the next couple of years.
When the established stars go over the hill, the next generation needs to be close at hand and ready to step up. That is the conundrum the regions and the WRU have got to grapple with. How do they keep the best talent in the system, keep improving and getting ready for their big opportunity?
The other key component in all of this is coaching. Just look at the job that my old wing partner Mark Jones has done in such a short space of time with the Welsh team in South Africa. They looked, and played, like a different team to the Six Nations.
He heads home without a job to go to and could now be lost to the system in Wales if the WRU don't move fast to offer him an extended contract beyond the three months he signed up for. Too many good coaches have been lost in the past at a time when the game is crying out for them.
The key to success is good people communicating good messages. That is especially true at the age grade levels. The earlier you instil the right values, the right techniques and the right mindset, the greater the chance you have of producing better players.
There is obviously plenty of potential in this Wales U20 squad and I'd love to see Archie Hughes, below, and Dan Edwards get a chance to show what they can do at a higher level this season. Their tactical nous at half-back was huge in every Welsh performance and their skills need to be honed and utilised.
It's the same with the likes of hooker Lewis Lloyd and the Harlequins duo of lock Jonny Green and flanker Seb Driscoll.
The future looks bright – if all these young players are handled properly.
