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The Bath prediction about Billy Sela, their U20s World Cup winner
By Liam Heagney
Bath boss Johann van Graan has explained why the potential of sending Billy Sela, one of their recent World Cup U20 Championship winners, out on loan to get first-team experience is an option not on the table. Signed by the Bath senior academy in 2023, the 19-year-old tighthead was an age-grade Six Nations winner with Mark Mapletoft’s England before travelling on to South Africa and becoming a world champion last July.
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Sela missed the semi-final and final at the tournament in Cape Town due to an injury suffered in the gruelling winter weather, pool-clinching win over the Junior Boks, but he has since returned to fitness and featured in Bath’s two most recent pre-season friendlies versus Ealing and Dragons.
It was decided regarding Arthur Green, an U20s colleague of Sela’s who scored in the DHL Stadium final versus France, that a year on loan with Doncaster Knights in the Championship would be the best way to develop his career. However, the thinking over what to do next with Sela has turned out differently.
The front-rower played numerous games last season for Bath University, which helping him transition into playing against adult players. Now having involved in two of Bath’s friendlies ahead of Friday night’s new Gallagher Premiership season opener at home to Northampton, van Graan has made a prediction about what will happen to Sela in their 2024/25 campaign.
“Billy has had a fantastic first season last season out of school, not only at Bath Uni but also England U20s,” said van Graan when asked this week by RugbyPass what was his plan for Sela. “He got a hamstring injury in a poach position at the Junior World Cup but he has fought his way back into fitness. People forget how young he is. Two weeks ago he came on for the first time. Played a few minutes last weekend against the Dragons. So Billy is definitely in our plans.
“He won’t go on loan at this stage. I believe he is good enough to play at some stage during the season, so whenever that date comes he will make his Premiership debut.”
Club skipper Ben Spencer didn’t have a successful U20s World Cup when he featured at that level for England, his class of 2012 finishing in seventh place in a tournament that was also hosted in Cape Town. But he has since gone on to enjoy a stellar professional career, initially at Saracens before his 2020 switch to Bath.
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An England Test team sub at the 2019 Rugby World Cup final and bench cover for Alex Mitchell in the recent series in New Zealand, what advice does the 32-year-old Spencer have for the likes of Sela looking to breakthrough at club first-team level after international age-grade success?
“I’m not too sure. We didn’t have the best 20s World Cup when I played for them. Just stay hungry. You come back from there with a massive high and you probably expect to jump straight into first-team rugby.
“Sometimes it probably doesn’t happen like that and it’s about biding your time and working hard and doing everything you can to not only get better yourself but to do as much as you can to prep the team for the weekend as best you can. For me and probably for Johann as well, being a team player is huge.
“That is what we recognised really well last year, how important the players who weren’t playing week in week out were; how important it was for them to turn up at training just as much as it was for the guys playing at the weekend to turn up. I’d just say stay hungry and be a good team player.”
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as a tighthead, Sela would probably benefit from more hours in the gym than on the pitch.
we've seen that with Opoku-Fordjour at Sale - he's more than good enough to make the 23, but was rested for significant stretches so he could focus on developing physically and preparing mentally.
presumably Sela this season will start for England u20s and for Bath in the premiership cup. Add in a couple of bench appearences in full senior matches and he won't be lacking game time.