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Wasps academy is getting a major overhaul
The Wasps academy is set for a major overhaul – the Coventry-based side have revealed today.
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With the recent news that Academy Manager Jon Pendlebury will be leaving to join the RFU as England Men’s Under 18s Head Coach, the Club have appointed Kevin Harman as Head of Academy.
Harman has worked with Wasps for the past 12 years and has been with the Club ever since the move to Coventry in 2014.
He has provided the link between the Academy and the first-team squad which in the last year has seen eight players progress from the Senior Academy to the first-team along with 11 Under 18 players joining the Senior Academy.
Harman’s new role will see him have full responsibility for the Wasps Academy, while he will still play a role in recruitment.
Harman said: “I’ve been working with the Club since May 2008 so Wasps is my Club. I have an emotional attachment here and I’m passionate and excited about the challenge ahead.
“We’ve had excellent investment in the Academy over the past three seasons and it is now producing quality homegrown players as demonstrated by the eight players graduating into the first-team set-up and 11 players from the Under 18s into the Senior Academy last summer.
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Swift action has been taken by Ulster in an effort to weed out a so-called supporter who caused a disturbance during the recent win over Harlequins in Belfasthttps://t.co/L2Jrb7iyb9
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“I know we have a strong talented group of staff who will continue to help our young developing players flourish, with the end goal to become Wasps first-team players.”
Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young said: “Kev has done a fantastic job during his time at Wasps and there’s no better person to lead the Academy.
“He has Wasps in his blood and he is very passionate about bringing young players through the system.”
Harman will be ably supported by Assistant Academy Coach Matt Williams, who has been a fundamental part of the Academy for the past six seasons.
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Josh Raisey considers why the Test level partnership of Leicester's Ford and Saracens' Farrell has been Eddie Jones' go-to in 28 of his 50 England matcheshttps://t.co/SL9er6gHTp
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Changes to the structure will see Williams taking on managerial responsibilities on the day-to-day operations of the Academy, with ex-Yorkshire Carnegie centre Richard Beck as Senior Academy Coach and former Wasps and Italy star Andrea Masi as Under 18s Lead Coach.
Masi oversaw his first game in charge of the Under 18s last weekend as the youngsters ran in eight tries to secure an emphatic 54-12 win over Yorkshire Academy at Warwick School in the Premiership Rugby Under 18 Academy League-opener.
The Club are also in the process of recruiting for a new position of Development Player Pathway Manager/Academy Coach Development Officer, who will be working throughout the Academy region to give the Club visibility while also delivering coaching.
Josh Raisey considers why the Test level partnership of Leicester's Ford and Saracens' Farrell has been Eddie Jones' go-to in 28 of his 50 England matcheshttps://t.co/SL9er6gHTp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 18, 2019
The Academy’s strength and conditioning will continue to be headed up by Michael Main with the support of coaches Lewis Grinsell and Connor O’Shaughnessy, while Head Academy Physiotherapist Tracey Russell is joined by Aled Rees in the physiotherapy department.
The Academy is also supported by Analyst Cassian Graham and Operations Co-ordinator Lydia Robbins.
AASE Manager Gareth Harris, who was appointed in October 2018, looks after the Wasps AASE programme at City of Oxford College, the new partnership which began earlier this year. The AASE programme is crucial in bringing players through the system and is already showing positive signs with eight players from the programme being named in the squad in last Saturday’s first Wasps U18s game of the season.
Young added: “With the new structure in place we feel we have everything we need to continue that conveyor belt of talent coming up through the age-groups and hopefully over the coming years we’ll see more and more Academy players go on to represent the first-team and become top-end Premiership players.”
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