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'He's a kid out of school and it can be daunting Naiyaravoro sprinting flat out at you'
Wasps boss Lee Blackett may be frustrated by his team’s general inability to convert pressure into points in the Gallagher Premiership, but he is liking what he has recently seen from 19-year-old Charlie Atkinson who will be promoted to a senior team contract for next season after making his first-team breakthrough via the academy.
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Atkinson hit the headlines last September when his second appearance off of the Premiership bench lasted just minutes as he was mowed down by a red-carded high shot at Saracens from England skipper Owen Farrell.
He has since bounced back to make a dozen Premiership appearances in this 2020/21 season featuring a half-dozen starts. The first four starts during the winter months were initially at out-half but Atkinson has since popped up at full-back, wearing the No15 jersey in the last two Wasps league outings against Worcester and Northampton.
His stats on the Premiership Rugby website from those last two games highlight how busy Atkinson has been, making 143 metres from 23 carries that featured five clean breaks and left five defenders beaten. They were also two tackles and on the negative side of the ledger, there were three tackles missed and three turnovers conceded.
Blackett openly admitted when quizzed by RugbyPass that he still very much viewed Atkinson as an out-half but the importance in recent games was more to get his youngster on the pitch in whatever position possible to help further accelerate his development.
The teenager made headlines last September when Owen Farrell collided with him with a high shot https://t.co/L7rJouRTth
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 25, 2021
“What you will find with a lot of 10s now is they will spend a lot of time in the backfield,” explained Blackett when asked for his assessment on how Atkinson has fared as the starting Wasps full-back. “10 and 15 are our two full-backs at times so it is not as big a change as people make out for a 10 to go and stand at full-back because defensively that is where he normally is.
“What I have seen is it gives us a big right foot, left foot combination with him and Jacob (Umaga) and the reason we have probably not played him at 10 is the form of Jacob recently, he has been going really well and we are trying to bed Charlie in.
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“There has been bravery, putting his body on the line. He had to make a few last-ditch tackles at the weekend on players like (Taqele) Naiyaravoro. He is a kid just out of school and it can be daunting with a figure like Naiyaravoro sprinting on the wing flat out at you at full-back and he is putting his body on the line.
“There is plenty of little parts of his game in terms of the game management he has done well, but I still think there are little parts of his game that are going to come on. His positioning, he is definitely a 10. He is a 10 that can play 15 rather than a 15 that can play at 10 but for us it is about trying to give him game time and trying to get him out there, making him better for this experience and speeding up his development.”
Atkinson’s height and weight aren’t officially known. His profile in the Wasps match programme from the last home game versus Worcester was blank while his profile on the club website is currently absent, but Blackett is happy with the level of robustness that the player who turns 20 in October is demonstrating.
“He is a good size, Charlie, works hard in the gym. For a 19-year-old kid, our academy has done a great job on him. He has had a specialist S&C coach going into school every week with him, he has had one-to-one Wasps coaches, S&C coaches going in and looking after him.
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“Our younger guys that we are thinking ‘he’s a definite 100 per cent Premiership player’, we send specialist coaches in so every week at school he would have had an S&C coach going into him, a rugby coach going in and seeing him working on his skill set just to get him to this place.
“Fair play to those staff, they have accelerated his development and it’s very rare that you get a kid come through this quickly that spends most of his time on the field. You’ll find that guys that come in this quickly sometimes pick up knocks and Charlie is pretty resilient in that way, but he has had a lot of attention put on him for quite a while.”
"I've had conversations with the referee a couple of times. I spoke to Spreaders as well… I was really frustrated after the game"
– Lee Blackett has revisited post-game comments and also addressed the Gloucester-Bath cancellation that has hurt Wasps https://t.co/gwuXC3T02x
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 1, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments