Recently capped by England U20s against Wales, Josh Gillespie is a lightning fast winger whose route into the Northampton Saints academy has been unusual to say the least.
Born in Sydney but raised in Singapore, Gillespie played football there until he discovered rugby and joined the Centaurs club, whose junior sides are hugely successful across Asia.
At 15, he moved to England, attending Millfield School, from where he was initially picked up by Bath before, having failed to make the grade there, he moved to Northampton.
At 18 years and 15 days, Gillespie became Saints’ youngest ever player when appearing off the bench in a Premiership Cup tie at Wasps. Now, after a successful loan spell at Ampthill, the 19-year-old flyer has his sights set on forcing his way into the Franklin’s Gardens first team.
Charting his unusual journey, Gillespie said: “I never played rugby until I was 11 or 12, but at Centaurs we had one of the best junior set-ups in Singapore and my team went two years unbeaten. We played a lot of tournaments in places like Thailand and Malaysia, so that was fun.
“My parents had travelled to Australia and Singapore through work, which explains my unusual upbringing, but, when I was 15, I came to England and went to Millfield.
“I was in Bath’s academy but that didn’t really work out. If I’m honest, I didn’t play well enough and after they dropped me, I thought I probably wouldn’t get another shot at pro rugby. I was just thinking about playing social rugby, but then Northampton gave me fresh hope.
“Simon Sinclair, their academy manager at the time, asked me to come here and he really pushed my development. Within three months or so I got into the England U17s development squad and from thinking I had no future in the game, things progressed from there.”
Gillespie added: “I got my Saints debut in the Premiership Cup in 2018. I was still at Millfield but it was our half-term and Simon told me to come to the club. I trained through the week and was then lucky enough to be named in the 23 for the Wasps game.
“I got 15 minutes off the bench at the Ricoh, managed to get myself involved a bit and we won with a try in the last seconds, so that was memorable. At the time I didn’t realise I’d become Northampton’s youngest player but it’s quite a cool record to have.”
On the back of his U20s recognition, Gillespie is now aiming for bigger things. He added: “Getting capped by England U20s against Wales was great. It was an amazing atmosphere at Gloucester and despite losing the game, I felt I played pretty well.
“The big thing now is to move on from that, work hard at Saints and try to learn as much as I can from our other wingers like Tom Collins and Taqele Naiyaravoro. They’re good mentors but I’ll try to put a bit of pressure on them when we get back playing.”
NEALE HARVEY
