Seven Wasps academy products graduate to first team
Wasps have confirmed that Seven Academy players have signed first-team deals ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.
Tom Willis, Gabriel Oghre, Will Porter, Tim Cardall, Callum Sirker, Owain James and Sam Spink have all graduated from the Academy, reinforcing the Club’s intent on bringing through and developing young talent.
The septet have all impressed in the Premiership Rugby Shield for Wasps A while some have gone on to play first-team rugby in the Premiership Rugby Cup in 2018/19.
Willis, Oghre and Porter also all went on to make their Premiership debuts during the 2018/19 campaign, as an exciting crop of talent prepare for their first seasons in the senior set-up.
Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young said: “We’re thrilled to see these lads come through the system and we’re really pleased with how they’ve performed across the competitions over the last 12 months.
“They’ll now take that next step up to test themselves at a higher level, and to also learn and train regularly alongside more experienced and talented individuals.”
Wasps Academy Manager Jon Pendlebury added: “To have seven Senior Academy players progress into the first-team set-up is a testament to the work that goes on behind the scenes here at Wasps.
“We have some incredible coaching staff with Matt Everard, Andrea Masi and Matt Williams, while the support staff play a key role in preparing these players physically and mentally for the challenges and expectations of a senior professional game environment.
“I have no doubt that we will see more players coming through the system in the coming seasons and hopefully this group will really step up in 2019/20, earn more first-team recognition, and contribute to the success of the Club.”
Wasps 2018/19 Graduates
Tom Willis
Back-row
18/01/99 (20)
Younger brother of Wasps first-team star Jack
Made Premiership debut v Saracens in October 2017, first Premiership start in November 2018 v Northampton Saints
Honours: England U18, England U20 – scoring four tries in five appearances at recent Six Nations and also captaining them in final three games
Heading to Argentina later this month for World Rugby U20 Championship
Made 11 Wasps first-team appearances, six during 2018/19 season
Scored maiden Wasps try in November v Northampton in Premiership Rugby Cup
Featured six times in Premiership Rugby Shield including one try in 2018/19
Named as 2018/19 Academy Player of the Season
Gabriel Oghre
Hooker
25/05/98 (20)
Honours: England U20
Made Premiership debut this season off the bench against Saracens
Featured in nine of Wasps A’s ten matches in the Premiership Rugby Shield, captaining the side on occasions while also crossing for three tries
Six first-team appearances, including three in 2018/19
Will Porter
Scrum-half
14/12/98 (20)
Honours: England U18
Made seven appearances in 2018/19 Premiership Rugby Shield, crossing for two tries – including one stunning length-of-the-field burst again Leicester Tigers A
11 first-team appearances, including seven in 2018/19
Tim Cardall
Lock
13/01/97 (22)
Honours: England Students
Played every minute in all ten of Wasps A’s Premiership Rugby Shield games, scoring two tries
Has made three first-team appearances, two of which came in this season’s Premiership Rugby Cup
Spent time with Nottingham Rugby on dual registration during 2018/19
Callum Sirker
Winger
14/05/98 (21)
Scored a whopping 11 tries in ten Shield appearances, second top-scorer in the competition to Adam Radwan who had 12
Honours: England Sevens
Made his Wasps first-team debut this season in Premiership Rugby Cup, his sole appearance to date
Spent time with Richmond on dual registration during 2018/19
Owain James
Full-back
23/09/96 (22)
Eight first-team appearances including two tries
Restricted to only two Premiership Rugby Shield and two Premiership Rugby Cup appearances this season due to an ACL injury
Sam Spink
Centre
06/10/99 (19)
Two first-team appearances
Played five Premiership Rugby Shield games during 2018/19, scoring one try, but had opportunities limited this season through injury
Honours: England U18, England U20 – earned his first U20 cap in April but an unfortunate ankle knock means he’ll miss this summer’s World Rugby U20 Championship
Featured in one game for Nottingham Rugby in 2018/19, scoring one try
Comments on RugbyPass
Great story. Rugby needs new investment in teams like Brussels another pro league in Europe would be great.
1 Go to commentsAlso, looking at the data from last year, it seemed like by far the two biggest predictors of success were (1) kicking more than your opponents, and (2) having a higher rate of line-out wins than your opponents. I haven’t gone through the stats this year with a fine tooth comb, but the increase in kicks per game and the increase in tries from lineouts would suggest that these two metrics are only getting more important. England’s move away from a kick-heavy game to win against Ireland was seen by some as evidence that running rugby is on the rise. Alternatively it could be taken as evidence that if one team kicks more, and the other team wins more lineouts (as England did) a match is bound to be close to a draw.
2 Go to commentsI have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
2 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
39 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
39 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
39 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to comments