Designed to engage with young Welsh qualified players and their families who are based outside Wales they’re organised to potentially provide a pathway for young Welsh players into the age grade system in Wales.
As WRU Exiles Programme Manager Gareth Davies outlined: “Strategically, the Exiles programme is a very important part of our pathway opportunities. The one-day camps are delivered by some of the best age grade coaches in Wales and avoid families having to spend time and money travelling to Wales to enable them to benefit from the experience”.
“Regardless of their standard, the objective of the Exiles camps is to engage with Welsh qualified players based outside Wales and help them maximise their potential.”
“We have a number of products of the Exiles programme involved in our national age grade squads and many others involved with the Regions here in Wales. We have strong and important links with education establishments and universities here in Wales where young Exiles have the chance to combine their rugby development with their academic progress to help them transition into senior rugby whilst being monitored by our regions”.
Players must be registered with the Exiles programme via www.wru.wales/exiles to be invited to the camps which are taking place at various locations on February 22nd, 23rd and 24th.
Now in its 30th year the WRU Exiles high-performance programme continues to identify, monitor and potentially recruit Welsh qualified players who are based outside Wales and have the potential to play ‘elite’ age grade or senior regional rugby in Wales, as well as the senior national squad.
In recent years the Exiles programme has operated more strategically and is now aligned more closely with the WRU National Age Grade programme and with player recruitment for the regions in line with senior national succession planning.
The Exiles age grade programme is open to all Welsh qualified players aged 12 to 18 based outside Wales and gives them and their families an opportunity to engage with the WRU.
“When parents come to us and say their Welsh qualified son or daughter is based outside Wales and enjoys playing rugby and ask whether there are any opportunities for them in the WRU pathway we can say with complete confidence that the answer is categorically “Yes”. The same apples when we are approached by agents of senior professional players whose clients are Welsh qualified “, said Davies.
“The Exiles boys who come into our National Age Grade pathways have always been excellent and the programme provides a great opportunity for them to make their mark here in Wales. The Exiles programme is a hugely important part of our player identification and monitoring process and our national succession planning”.
There are a number of other young Exiles from the UK and overseas who are contracted to one of the regions. Davies works work closely with the Cardiff Rugby, the Dragons, the Ospreys and the Scarlets in relation to player recruitment and regional and senior international player succession planning.
“We are also actively monitoring a number of WQ players who are playing top ‘senior’ rugby outside of Wales and are potentially regional players who could feature in future senior squads.
“There are hundreds of young Welsh qualified players in the programme and there is a pathway for every single one of them to maximise their potential here in Wales. We have also facilitated opportunities in Wales for young players from New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Australia and from all over Europe.“
“Many Exiles come into the programme when they’re 14 or 15, and we continue to engage with them and monitor their progress. In the current u20 Six Nations squad Adam Williams (Herefordshire), Harri Williams (Essex), Tom Cowan (Wiltshire), Bryn Bradley (Surrey) and Alex Ashton (Bristol) all came into the Exiles programme when they were 14 or 15 .
“In the Senior Squad players such as Louis Rees-Zammit and Callum Sheedy were all monitored closely from the age of 16 as were some older players such as Second Row Will Rowlands.
“The excellent relationship we have with the Welsh regions means that there’s also a credible route to professional rugby too. Now that ‘World Rugby‘ has increased the Reg 8 residency eligibility criteria from 3 years to 5 years the Exiles programme is more relevant than ever”.
