BUCS breeding great talent
UNIVERSITY of Exeter director of rugby Gareth Elliott believes BUCS Super Rugby is moving towards being one of the most relevant leagues in the country.
In what has been a breeding ground for emerging talent for a number of years, Elliott has seen first hand how the competition is now paving the way for aspiring players to reach the very pinnacle of the modern-day game.
At Exeter alone, the likes of Sam Skinner, Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza, Ross Vintcent and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, right, have all gone from turning out on a Wednesday afternoon at Topsham to featuring at both Premiership, European and international level in the space of a few years.
Elsewhere, Cardiff Met has helped forge the careers of both Alex Dombrandt and Aaron Wainwright, while Sebastian Negri and Stephen Varney have come through at Hartpury and Freddie Steward and Dan Kelly are among Loughborough’s former alumni.
“I’d say that at the moment, it’s probably moving towards being the second most relevant league in the country,” said Elliott. “Obviously you’ve got the Premiership, but then outside of that where are you going to recruit from?
“You’ve got lots of young, exciting players, all playing at a very high level. It’s shown in recent years that the talent is there and that clubs are very much looking at the competition and players who are featuring in it.”
Not that BUCS Super Rugby takes up all of Elliott’s time, much of his week is also catered for looking after the University’s National League team, as well as the many other teams he fields during the week.
“We’ve got close to 100 high performance players, then more players on top of that because we have seven teams that compete on a Wednesday,” explained Elliott.
“I don’t want to moan too much because I know a lot of coaches would say having lots of players is a joy but, at the same time, it’s a lot to have on your books.”
For many, however, the pathway is in place for them to potentially fulfil a dream of reaching the Premiership and beyond.
“We’re very lucky that we’ve got a brilliant pathway here connected to the Chiefs, but we’ve also got players here who are contracted to Harlequins and Bath, we’ve had others with Bristol in the past as well, and those clubs are happy for their players to come and be part of a high level environment,” said Elliott.
“We also get high level players from abroad who know if they are competing at the right level, whether that be BUCS Super Rugby or National League, Premiership teams are watching and they are interested in who the top performers are.”
