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'Crikey': Son of league legend Martin Offiah picked by England U18s
Tyler Offiah, the son of rugby league legend Martin, is poised to play for England at the upcoming U18s Six Nations festival in Italy.
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Age-grade coach Jonathan Pendlebury has included the London and South Central academy winger in the 26-strong squad for the eight-team tournament that starts this Saturday in Parma.
England face Wales in their opening Stadio Lanfranchi match, with games versus Scotland and Georgia to follow, and the Offiah name will stand out if included on the team sheet.
Pendlebury held a media briefing with skipper Connor Treacey and when RugbyPass asked the head coach about the inclusion of the teenage Offiah who has a famous father, he initially deflected the query onto the Bath back-rower.
Pendlebury: “Do you know who he is talking about?”
The next generation 🔥
Head coach Jonathan Pendlebury has named his 26-player squad to travel to Parma for the U18 Men’s Six Nations Rugby Festival, which gets started on Saturday 30 March!
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 19, 2024
Treacey: “Yeah, Martin Offiah.”
Pendlebury: “You know who Martin Offiah is?”
Treacey: “Yeah.”
“The reason I am asking Connor is it depends on who you are talking to,” continued Pendlebury. “Some of these guys won’t know and hey look, it’s a completely different sport as well. But yeah, Martin Offiah, crikey, he could score a try.
“Just somebody like Tyler, as we have seen with an awful lot of these young lads coming through, the game has been professional now for several years. People who were playing the game in England, their sons are coming through.
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“Myself, I seem to have coached a number of them at Leeds, at Wasps academies previously, England age group; I seem to be coaching more and more sons of a certain player.
“But yeah, depending on who you are speaking to, some people might not know, might not have ever heard of Martin Offiah’s tries because they might be thinking, ‘It’s the same ball but it’s the wrong game’.”
How similar is Tyler to Martin? “They like scoring tries, yeah. I think, yeah, just similar in that he [Tyler] likes playing rugby with a smile on his face. I remember watching his dad play in all those Challenge Cup fixtures that always used to be on the BBC and he was in some pretty dominant sides in that era.
“So you have got a young man who is trying to find his own way in a different sport and certainly a different era. But yeah, young Tyler is working hard.
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“He had a little bit of a setback where he picked up a knock but then he has come back into the squad with us and hopefully, just like all the other guys, is in a position to express himself and just enjoy it and maximise the opportunity they have got with us.”
Eight Gallagher Premiership clubs are represented in the England squad as are three regional academies which have filled the gap caused by last season’s demise of Worcester, Wasps and London Irish.
Offiah was part of the Irish academy and Pendlebury was pleased with how the RFU reacted to ensure that youngsters on the books at these fallen clubs weren’t left in the lurch.
“What would you have done? You would have 140, 150 kids unhappy that all of a sudden something stops. Those guys who were able to stick around and probably even worked unpaid for a while.
“Then the RFU were able to get into a position to then function as best they could and look, they probably had to prioritise those guys in year 13 than the guys in year 12 and then supporting the guys that are then coming through.
“Look, there is still an awful lot of work continuing in the background to make that successful for those guys. By no means ideal, pretty unfortunate for what had gone on.
“I know from being at Leeds academy in previous roles I have had and not having a Premiership club in the county there for a number of years now to then working for Wasps and then seeing Wasps disappear;
“To lose three big names in the Premiership and then other clubs struggling up and down the country is not what we want because whether it is at the top end of the game in the Premiership or whether it is level two, three or four and whatever.
“We want rugby to be thriving and opportunities for these guys coming through the game as well as the guys that are exiting the game and might be wanting to drop down the leagues to transition out of professional or semi-professional lives.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments