WQ players in England (and elsewhere)

First topic message reminder :

I recently did one of these for South African players after being astonished at the amount of quality Saffa's in every team in every top-flight league. The number of our guys in England could be on the rise again so I'm going to comprise a list as best as I can. If I've missed a few then please comment. I'm also aware that some of these guys have been in EP academies since age 18.

Leicester Tigers;
Joe Thomas (centre), Tommy Reffell (back-row), Sam Costelow (fly-half), Jonah Holmes (wing/full-back).

Worcester Warriors:
Ashley Beck (centre), Sam Lewis (back-row).

Bristol Bears:
Ioan Lloyd (fly-half), Dan Thomas (back-row), Ryan Edwards (wing), Mat Protheroe (fly-half), potentially welsh Calum Sheedy (fly-half), Nicky Thomas (prop).

Saracens: Liam Williams (wing/full-back), Rhys Carre (prop), Sam Wainwright (prop).

Exeter: Tomas Francis (prop), Phil Dollman (full-back), WQ Tom Price (lock).

Gloucester: Owen Williams (fly-half), Louis Rees-Zammit (wing).

Sale Sharks: Willgriff John (prop), Joe Jones (prop).

Northampton Saints: Dan Biggar (fly-half).

Bath: Jamie Roberts (centre), Taulupe Faletau (No.8), Aled Brew (wing), Rhys Priestland (fly-half).

Wasps: Thomas Young (back-row).

Nottingham: Llewelyn Jones (lock).


France - Vannes: Carwyn Jones (lock).

Japan - Toyota Verblitz: Dom Day (lock).


So it's a worrying time given the state of our teams. We only have 4; Scarlets play in the challenge cup and are our best team but they are not as good as Sarries, Exeter or Leinster right now. If the WRU is to get an injection of cash then could it be used to strengthen the regions? A number of these players could be targeted to strengthen the overall squad depth of each team, which is probably where we are the most lacking. I would welcome more NWQ players into the fray, but I'm unable to tell who is available and willing to join any of our teams.

What do you think?

I would say Wales struggles to produce centres, props, and locks in the modern era. Plenty of hookers - good hookers - and 10s in the last 10-15 years. To keep on topic, we've had Sonny Parker and Parkes in the midfield; Francis and Horsman at prop; Ball, Kohn, Will James, and Cockbain at lock. No doubt there are others I'm forgetting, but those are the positions we tend to look outside Wales to bolster.

What we struggle to produce are athletes. The amateur era covered that up with a bunch of hard, manual labourers. Nowadays, everybody is on the same page as far as S&C goes (not to mention juiced to the gills), and we're a tiny country where hardly anyone plays rugby anymore. You only have to look at the second teamers stealing a living in Cardiff, Newport and Swansea to see that.

Yet counter that with the fact that we probably produce some of the most technically blessed players in the NH. Particularly in the forwards. Can't have it all.

Sam Lewis signs new contract with Worcester. Not sure if a Welsh team really needs an open-side anyway.

No they don’t. For all the fuss about him, if Dragons had signed him as planned we wouldn’t have found Griffiths or Basham that easily.

Jay Baker is making headlines in Australia. Apparently.

Might be time for Ospreys to get him back if he's improved. Dirksen aside, he is probably better than what I've seen so far from their back 3 this season.

Pinch of salt needed. He's playing for Manly. They're in a semi-pro league in NSW. It's the Oz 3rd tier, below Super Rugby and the National Rugby Championship.

Fingers crossed he continues to play well though, and gets picked up by one of the leagues higher up.

I'd imagine the 7s circuit would be the next step up for him from where he is.

miaow wrote:I'd imagine the 7s circuit would be the next step up for him from where he is.

Good shout.

If he has any sense then he’ll try to get into the Oz 7s team rather than Wales.

Liam Williams to leave Saracens at the end of the season, destination = Scarlets. Good move for them but I feel it would also be in their best interests to let go of Halfpenny and maybe recruit a NWQ in the back 3.

Gruff Rees was recently saying that Cardiff Blues have started to identify their best talent and contract them at a younger age (16). The worry with more and more going to England at a young age is that the talent pool would dry up. Ioan Lloyd and Louis Rees-Zammit were both Cardiff boys - I'm not sure if any of us knew how good these two would turn out to be though.

Carwyn Tuipulotu seems to be making headlines lately, must have had a growth spurt too now weighing 125kg. Playing in the north of England with Sedbergh he was picked up by the Exiles programme and qualifies for Wales through birth. He is also related to the Faletau's and Vunipola's.

mikey_dragon wrote:Carwyn Tuipulotu seems to be making headlines lately, must have had a growth spurt too now weighing 125kg. Playing in the north of England with Sedbergh he was picked up by the Exiles programme and qualifies for Wales through birth. He is also related to the Faletau's and Vunipola's.

Plus he’s called Carwyn! HAS to turn out for Wales, surely?!

I guess his father wanted the name because of the slight Welsh connection. I would like to see him turn out for us one day if he's this good, hopefully we don't lose him to England. Tonga I can accept, but we already lost the Vunipola's to England right . He's mostly centre and No.8 I think. Interesting, hopefully he'll either be like Billy V or Tuilagi.

Apparently picked up by Scarlets so most likely path is to a Wales cap. Apparently has a brother who's also doing well in schools rugby in England.

If it's a younger brother then he could have been born in England? That would be funny, one each turning out for Wales and England. Hopefully we've got the bigger brother though.

Rumour that Eddie wants to tempt Louis Rees-Zammit into the england set up. I think this pretty much guarantees us capping him this 6 Nations.