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The story of the English 16-year-old who has signed a five-year deal at Scarlets
Guinness PRO14 outfit Scarlets have handed an English 16-year-old a five-year contract. Harry Williams had been attending school in England, but the Welsh region has now snapped up the youngster on a long-term deal as part of their Parc Y Scarlets academy programme.
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Described as a livewire No9, Williams is a pupil at St Joseph’s College in Ipswich and has been with the Northampton Saints academy for the last three years. It’s said he is a lifelong Scarlets fan with a grandfather from Pontyberem and a father from Dunvant.
Scarlets development pathway manager Kevin George said on the club’s website: “I watched Harry play for Northampton as a 15-year-old in an under-18s game against Worcester and he was outstanding.
“He is very sharp, elusive and has played in our combined team and excelled in that. Harry will be staying in school for the next two years in Ipswich and then join us to go to Swansea Uni.”
WalesOnline added that Williams father Jon had spoken about his son’s high hopes for making the grand in Welsh rugby. “Many years ago he made a list of the things he wanted to achieve in his life,” he said.
Great news for our programme! https://t.co/sBnTwApvkx
— Welsh Exiles (@welshexiles) June 25, 2019
“It’s still pinned up in my mum and dad’s kitchen and on the piece of paper he wrote that he wanted to play pro rugby and also play for Wales and the British Lions.
“It’s in his blood and in addition to myself, Tom (Harry’s older brother) played for the Welsh under-18 side, his granddad used to train with Scarlets in the 1970s and my brother, Craig, played semi-professional rugby for Swansea.
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“Harry’s a very driven, highly-committed individual and that, combined with his natural talent and passion, has helped him get to this level. He has belief and confidence in his ability and a mature head on young shoulders.”
The 'outstanding' 16-year-old player who's just been plucked from England and given a five-year Welsh rugby contract https://t.co/Jyvbyq1hK9
— WalesOnline Rugby (@WalesRugby) June 26, 2019
Williams isn’t the only recruitment Scarlets have done of players once attached to an English club. They have also taken on board two front row-playing brothers – Sam O’Connor, 17, and Harri O’Connor, 18 – who were once part of the Bath academy programme.
“Both Harri and Sam were in Bath academy and both went via the WRU’s exiles programme to Llandovery College,” explained academy pathway manager George.
“Both had very good seasons and played under-18 and under-19 for Wales. They are modern, mobile props which we are always looking for. One is a tighthead and one a loosehead — there is plenty of potential there.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments