Welsh Youngsters

I did something similar on the old 606, and I'm bored so here I go again. The idea is to list a XV of Welsh youngsters that will (hopefully) make their mark over the next few years and will be available for say..the next 3 world cups.

01 - Ryan Bevington, Rhodri Jones,
02 - Emyr Phillips, Lloyd Burns, Ken Owens, Rhys Williams
03 - Scott Andrews, Simon Gardiner
04 - Macauley Cook
05 - Cory Hill, Loyd Peers, James King, Lou Reed
06 - Rob McCusker, Edward Siggery
07 - Justin Tipuric, Josh Turnbull, Josh Navidi
08 - Morgan Allen, Toby Faletau

09 - Gareth Davies, Lloyd Williams, Aled Davies, Jonathan Evans
10 - Rhys Priestland, Dan Biggar, Mathew Morgan, Steven Shingler, Jason Tovey, Jordan Williams

11 - Kirsten Phillips, Eli Walker, Harry Robinson
12 - Ashley Beck, Scott Williams
13 - Hanno Dirksen, Adam Hughes, Owen Williams
14 - George North, Leigh Halfpenny
15 - Dan Fish, Steffan Jones, Martyn Thomas, Tom Prydie, Dan Evans

Obiousllly there's plenty of holes here - so I'd be keen to hear about some of the players that you think will make a mark over the next few seasons - and I'll keep updating it.

03- Rhodri Jones, Scott Andrews, Craig Mitchell?
05 - Cory Hill, Loyd Peers, James King, Lou Reed

Scarlets have 2 more very highly rated youngsters coming through at 9 and 10, Aled Davies and Jordan Williams respectively.

Simon Gardiner at 3 and Rhodri Jones at 1, two very good young props, Kirby Myhill at 2.

and forgot
07 - ed siggery
10/15 - steve shingler
who are both off to the irish exiles

09 - jonathan evans
i could go on all day

That's great guys, cheers!

I've left of Mitchell (perhaps a tad harshly) because he's 25 so at 37 is unlikely to go to a WC. I had no idea Siggery was off to Irish as well?

Rhodri Jones is a loosehead I believe. On the wing you could also slot in Eli Walker.

rhys williams hooker at the Blues?

Scott Andrews and Josh Navidi... At least list rugby players instead of show ponies. From what I've seen of these two they're hardly premiership standard but obviously some fat cat doesn't agree.

I heard Siggery was off too, what Region was he attatched to, was it Blues via Pontypridd?

rhys williams hooker at the Blues?
and rhodri Jones is definetly a tighthead

welsh-matfield wrote:rhys williams hooker at the Blues?
and rhodri Jones is definetly a tighthead

might be for the under-20's but he plays loosehead at the Scarlets.

Kirby Myhill ?

Harry Robinson at 11 and Leigh Halfpenny at 14 as those are their prefered wings.

Also

13. Owen Williams

What has happened to Dan Evans?

I saw Lloyd Williams play twice. Both in substitute cameos but it was enough to catch my attention. He looks like a real live-wire but that wasn't what made him stand out. It was the quality of his pass. It was sharp and extremely quick and maybe just maybe Wales have found their solution at that position.

Its quite a good list and proves the Regions are producing talent now.

As a side note though Scott Andrews shouldn't be on the list now or ever just not up to it IMO

bedfordwelsh wrote:Its quite a good list and proves the Regions are producing talent now.

As a side note though Scott Andrews shouldn't be on the list now or ever just not up to it IMO

I didnt like him much last year, but to be fair to him he is still young and his scrummaging has been improving week on week.

Props dont usually peak untill their late 20s/early 30s, he is still very young and could be a useful player learning scrummaging off Adam Jones with Wales and loose play off Tau Filise with the Blues.

Its not like we are blessed with THPs anyway.

Yeah I completely agree with you RE: Andrews, the boy's never impressed me. At the moment I think our tighthead future lies with Mitchell and Gardiner.

Don't worry though, Adams only 30!

MBTGOG wrote:What has happened to Dan Evans?

Fell down the pecking order. I can't remember if injury was a contributing factor...but the emergence of other players certainly was along with the form of Rhys Priestland from 10 or 15. If he moves on so be it, I just hope it's too another Welsh team. Scarlets have an absolute conveyor belt of backs within their Region and only the best shall survive. Shingler probably could have, but I suppose a better chance for regualry rugby and £30,000 per annum were enough to make him move.

wales606 wrote:I didnt like him much last year, but to be fair to him he is still young and his scrummaging has been improving week on week.

Props dont usually peak untill their late 20s/early 30s, he is still very young and could be a useful player learning scrummaging off Adam Jones with Wales and loose play off Tau Filise with the Blues.

Its not like we are blessed with THPs anyway.

Been watching him week on week have you???

I'm sorry we don't have time to wait until he's in his late 20's. Get rid of the dead wood or suffer another miserable season. We're not blessed with great THPs at the moment; persistence with 'players' like Andrews will only prolong this.

Draigoch wrote:That's great guys, cheers!

I've left of Mitchell (perhaps a tad harshly) because he's 25 so at 37 is unlikely to go to a WC. I had no idea Siggery was off to Irish as well?

Knoyle is 20 i am pretty sure considering he has spent a year as first choice in Llanelli and second choice in Wales he should be on your list too.

Also when do we get Rhys Llewellyn back from NZ ?

nottins_jones wrote:

wales606 wrote:I didnt like him much last year, but to be fair to him he is still young and his scrummaging has been improving week on week.

Props dont usually peak untill their late 20s/early 30s, he is still very young and could be a useful player learning scrummaging off Adam Jones with Wales and loose play off Tau Filise with the Blues.

Its not like we are blessed with THPs anyway.

Been watching him week on week have you???

I'm sorry we don't have time to wait until he's in his late 20's. Get rid of the dead wood or suffer another miserable season. We're not blessed with great THPs at the moment; persistence with 'players' like Andrews will only prolong this.

Ive been watching him for the Blues yes. Since he is the only THP we have that is close to being a decent player (apart from Filise who is about 37) I think we will hold onto him thank you.

There have been a lot of players who have been ranted about on these boards only to turn into good players (and many who are over hyped and never perform), at THP this year, many of the Scarlets were angry with Rhys Thomas and the money he was getting paid, but, by the end of the season he was on fire and gave the Scarlets a decent scrum (even managed a push over try for the first time since the stone age )

Well he doesn't play week on week and you'd need to go to all the away games. What's lead you to believe he's even close to becoming a decent player? He's useless. He just goes backwards constantly in the scrum. Not sure what else he does. I think blues may hold onto him to and for that contributing reason they're likely to suffer another miserable season.

nottings

If we got rid of him do you think we would have a better season?!

If we did, we would have 1 decent THP would will be away from the WC and is becoming more and more injury prone and will be lucky to still be playing next season.

I have been waiting for ages for the Blues to sort out the THP problem, but Andrews is the only talent we have had at THP in the academy and we have no money to bring in anyone (let alone the expense of a good THP)

In anycase, Gatland and Dai Young have both seen something in Andrews, and since they are both proffessional rugby coachs and ex-international front row players, I will trust there judgment on not sending one of the few welsh THPs to division 3 SE...just yet.

nottins_jones wrote:

wales606 wrote:Well he doesn't play week on week and you'd need to go to all the away games. What's lead you to believe he's even close to becoming a decent player? He's useless. He just goes backwards constantly in the scrum. Not sure what else he does. I think blues may hold onto him to and for that contributing reason they're likely to suffer another miserable season.

nottings

If we got rid of him do you think we would have a better season?!

If we did, we would have 1 decent THP would will be away from the WC and is becoming more and more injury prone and will be lucky to still be playing next season.

I have been waiting for ages for the Blues to sort out the THP problem, but Andrews is the only talent we have had at THP in the academy and we have no money to bring in anyone (let alone the expense of a good THP)

In anycase, Gatland and Dai Young have both seen something in Andrews, and since they are both proffessional rugby coachs and ex-international front row players, I will trust there judgment on not sending one of the few welsh THPs to division 3 SE...just yet.

True that Andrew gets high compliments from those who know their props, surely greater recomendation than us mere mortal fans...

Also true that there is no point in discarding a player like Andrew unless there was someone to fill the void when he was gone. There isnt...

I doubt he will make the world cup, and i see Simon Gardiner as a much better prospect. But I am sure that if those who know their front row play rate him, he will pay dividends in the future..

wales606 wrote:nottings

If we got rid of him do you think we would have a better season?!

If we did, we would have 1 decent THP would will be away from the WC and is becoming more and more injury prone and will be lucky to still be playing next season.

I have been waiting for ages for the Blues to sort out the THP problem, but Andrews is the only talent we have had at THP in the academy and we have no money to bring in anyone (let alone the expense of a good THP)

In anycase, Gatland and Dai Young have both seen something in Andrews, and since they are both proffessional rugby coachs and ex-international front row players, I will trust there judgment on not sending one of the few welsh THPs to division 3 SE...just yet.

Not sure. Perhaps you could have got a decent prop on loan instead of wasting time with Andrews. It's not just him though. It seems to be a Blues thing (invest time and money into mediocre players); we've seen it before - Sowden-Taylor, Czekaj, Navidi... Doesn't show no sign of stopping. To think the promising U20 players from Pontypridd seem to be ignored for these lot. Your attitude seems to be "We don't have anyone else, we'll bring him on through no matter how badly he's shown up on ever occassion" - and it's a poor one to have. There was also a certain contract extension for a certain player which is preventing some promising U20's coming through. Your team don't seem to be running themselves very well.

Wonder what Gatland could have seen in Andrews... Perhaps what he still sees in Huw Bennet, Andy Powell??

wow, bit harsh to call Navidi a waste of time?

[quote="nottins_jones"][quote="wales606"]nottings

It seems to be a Blues thing (invest time and money into mediocre players); we've seen it before - Sowden-Taylor, Czekaj, Navidi...

very harsh on Navidi!! been excelling in the premiership and looks a quality product.

Don't confuse honesty with being harsh lads. You don't have to rate every single Academy player for the sake of it.

matfield... That's not what I've been told of Navidi. I heard he falls off tackles and isn't big or strong enough to be effective at the breakdown. Not suprising, I once played at a 10's tournament in Swansea for my college. I think we were both 17 at the time. He was smaller than me and I'm a back. Perhaps it's wrong to say he's excelling in the Premiership, perhaps it's your view? Some players can transition their excellent premiership form to Regional then Internationa honours. Some can't, so it may not be an indicator of how his career will unfold.