Wales’ golden generation?

[welshmagpie]

A convincing win over England’s community lions to win the U16s 4 Nations.

Jake Nottingham, Karen Johnson & Junior Westwood (half-brother of Dec Patton) all signing Warrington academy deals this week.

Sam Grice at Castleford too.

A huge well done to Paul Berry, head coach, who’s worked wonders with this group. An excellent culture and excellent outcomes. 

[Damien]

To be fair I'd have expected Wales to win convincingly. Even Ireland drew at this level with a team made up almost exclusively of English amateur heritage lads (something that totally summed up the attitude of Ireland Rugby League and its complete failure to try and grow the game in Ireland).

Edited September 16, 2023 by Damien

[Toby Chopra]

2 minutes ago, Damien said:

To be fair I'd have expected Wales to win convincingly. Even Ireland drew at this level with a team made up almost exclusively of English amateur heritage lads (something that totally summed up the attitude of Ireland Rugby League and its complete failure to try and grow the game in Ireland).

Is the Wales under 16s a heritage team? I'd figured at this level it was all about location, like in football.

[Damien]

Just now, Toby Chopra said:

Is the Wales under 16s a heritage team? I'd figured at this level it was all about location, like in football.

No, Wales do development the correct way.

The Ireland u16s that has played so far certainly is heritage with all the coaches based in England too. Many Irish lads who went to trials in Ireland have packed in and become disillusioned with the whole setup. For most of the trials in Ireland the current u16s coach didn't even attend and selection couldn't have been done by anything other than the experience that was put in a registration form. There have even been more trials in England than Ireland. It's a joke.

[Toby Chopra]

11 minutes ago, Damien said:

No, Wales do development the correct way.

The Ireland u16s that has played so far certainly is heritage with all the coaches based in England too. Many Irish lads who went to trials in Ireland have packed in and become disillusioned with the whole setup. For most of the trials in Ireland the current u16s coach didn't even attend and selection couldn't have been done by anything other than the experience that was put in a registration form. There have even been more trials in England than Ireland. It's a joke.

Right, gotcha. What a pointless thing for Ireland to do. But well done Wales.

[Damien]

9 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

Right, gotcha. What a pointless thing for Ireland to do. But well done Wales.

Indeed. Wales should really be the model for Ireland, and Scotland to follow, but for 20 odd years both have done nothing but look for shortcuts. Having herirltage kids play at that level is just a sham and pointless.

[JM2010]

Are Wales at the stage where they could put out an academy squad to play against England Academy? 

If not England what about Yorkshire, Lancashire or Cumbria? Maybe France?

Would be good to see more representative games at academy level 

[corkonian77]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

To be fair I'd have expected Wales to win convincingly. Even Ireland drew at this level with a team made up almost exclusively of English amateur heritage lads (something that totally summed up the attitude of Ireland Rugby League and its complete failure to try and grow the game in Ireland).

Rugby League in Ireland has received virtually no help from  the stronger nations. 

 

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, corkonian77 said:

Rugby League in Ireland has received virtually no help from  the stronger nations. 

 

It doesn't help itself. There are loads of things it could and should do better but it constantly looks for shortcuts. When kids in Ireland want to play and ask for more sessions etc but instead camps are held in England and English lads are picked then something is seriously wrong.

[welshmagpie]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

No, Wales do development the correct way.

The Ireland u16s that has played so far certainly is heritage with all the coaches based in England too. Many Irish lads who went to trials in Ireland have packed in and become disillusioned with the whole setup. For most of the trials in Ireland the current u16s coach didn't even attend and selection couldn't have been done by anything other than the experience that was put in a registration form. There have even been more trials in England than Ireland. It's a joke.

Wales U16s hold a trial day in the north of England annually, this year it had 26 attendees from memory.

This is then used as supplement to players in the south Wales U16s league which is a shop window for domestic players.

It also helps that the U16 coaching staff keep a close eye on the West & East Wales U14s representative squads. 

Edited September 16, 2023 by welshmagpie

[corkonian77]

7 minutes ago, Damien said:

It doesn't help itself. There are loads of things it could and should do better but it constantly looks for shortcuts. When kids in Ireland want to play and ask for more sessions etc but instead camps are held in England and English lads are picked then something is seriously wrong.

That wouldnt encourage Irish based lads to stick with the game. 

The Rugby League Ireland website is down. Hadnt been updated since World cup.

[Jeff Stein]

A thread congratulating a Welsh team on a victory turns into one slagging Ireland and Scotland off. How rugby league 

[Sports Prophet]

7 hours ago, Damien said:

To be fair I'd have expected Wales to win convincingly. Even Ireland drew at this level with a team made up almost exclusively of English amateur heritage lads (something that totally summed up the attitude of Ireland Rugby League and its complete failure to try and grow the game in Ireland).

I think it was the U/18s in Czech Rep 2008 where Wales won. They were a big team and outmuscled all from memory. Little I can find online about it. 

The Irish team at that tournament were almost exclusively, if not entirely, English. I think there was a very large Hull element to that Irish squad.

French teams I remember were usually very competitive in the age group championships, but a little bit grabby… or grubby. Both descriptions fit.

 

[Sports Prophet]

7 hours ago, welshmagpie said:

A convincing win over England’s community lions to win the U16s 4 Nations.

Jake Nottingham, Karen Johnson & Junior Westwood (half-brother of Dec Patton) all signing Warrington academy deals this week.

Sam Grice at Castleford too.

A huge well done to Paul Berry, head coach, who’s worked wonders with this group. An excellent culture and excellent outcomes. 

That’s a great outcome with those academy signings. Are they moving to CAs and Warrington from Wales or are they heritage/migrants?

I thought we were going to be talking about the Wales national team at the 2000 WC. With proud Welsh ancestry, I was cheering them on that night against the Kangaroos.

I would love to see some more talented Welshmen in the SL. NRL too.

[Dunbar]

18 hours ago, welshmagpie said:

A convincing win over England’s community lions to win the U16s 4 Nations.

Jake Nottingham, Karen Johnson & Junior Westwood (half-brother of Dec Patton) all signing Warrington academy deals this week.

Sam Grice at Castleford too.

A huge well done to Paul Berry, head coach, who’s worked wonders with this group. An excellent culture and excellent outcomes. 

Terrific news but have to say those fella's look like they must have had a tough paper round for an under 16's side.

[welshmagpie]

On 17/09/2023 at 01:25, Sports Prophet said:

That’s a great outcome with those academy signings. Are they moving to CAs and Warrington from Wales or are they heritage/migrants?

I thought we were going to be talking about the Wales national team at the 2000 WC. With proud Welsh ancestry, I was cheering them on that night against the Kangaroos.

I would love to see some more talented Welshmen in the SL. NRL too.

Jake Nottingham moving up from Bridgend to Warrington and enrolling on a college course.

Kaden and Junior are already Warrington based.

[gogledd]

On 16/09/2023 at 19:44, welshmagpie said:

Wales U16s hold a trial day in the north of England annually, this year it had 26 attendees from memory.

 

 

 

If this was the one held in Chester, its in a location and pitch to attract players from across North Wales....however I have it on good authority that a venue was available in Bethesda and turned down by the WRL

[fighting irish]

19 minutes ago, gogledd said:

If this was the one held in Chester, its in a location and pitch to attract players from across North Wales....however I have it on good authority that a venue was available in Bethesda and turned down by the WRL

Why?

 

[gogledd]

5 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

Why?

 

Not really sure. Perhaps most of the prospective players were from the North West of England. Having said that it would have been nice to have trails based in Wales.

[welshmagpie]

4 hours ago, gogledd said:

Not really sure. Perhaps most of the prospective players were from the North West of England. Having said that it would have been nice to have trails based in Wales.

I haven’t got the details immediately available but there were a small handful of Welsh born at the trial. London based, Midlands based and I’m pretty sure one North Walian.

Edited September 19, 2023 by welshmagpie