Young Gun: Oliver Thorley – Gloucester wing

Oliver Thorley has targeted Gloucester‘s next three games to kick off a season which could end with World Cup glory in Manchester.
The 19-year-old only left school, Cheltenham College, last summer but his three LV=Cup starts over the past two season already make him the youngest player and try-scorer in the professional era for the Cherry and Whites.
Now eager to kick on his professional career, the young flyer is hoping to make his European debut against Zebre or La Rochelle with the match against the Barbarians on November 17 at Kingsholm also on his radar.
“I’m yet to play this season but the next couple of weeks are very exciting,” he told The Rugby Paper. “The game against the Barbarians could be great given the selection of players they have. It’d be awesome for me to test myself against a player like All Black Nehe Milner-Skudder.
“I’ve had only a day between finishing school and starting training with the first team so this summer has been tough on the body. Although we’re don’t do as much contact as the forwards, we run a lot and my legs took a beating for the first couple of months. But I’m getting used to professional training and I’m recovering much quicker in between sessions now.
“I’ve learnt so much by just training alongside seasoned professionals and I’ve been working hard on my positioning.
“Learning all the moves has been tough too because we play off-the-cuff at school. If I’m honest playing with that much structure has been the biggest hurdle to overcome so far.
“I’ll see how the next few weeks go but there may be an opportunity to go on loan to a Championship club in order to get more game time at senior level.”
Thorley, who captained his school 1st XV last season, has been included in the England U20s EPS squad for the season despite being a year young and he has set his sights on the Junior World Cup which will be hosted in England for the first time next June.
He said: “We’ve had a couple of camps together and the team spirit is growing already. We’ve talked a lot about the team ethos and what we want to be about.
“Having the JWC in Manchester is not as exotic as New Zealand or Italy but it’s going to be a fantastic occasion. It’ll be great to have most of the crowd in our favour.
“They are a lot of players a year young like me but I don’t think it’ll reflect on our performances. It’ll just mean we’re hungrier to show we’re good enough to play at this level.”