Coventry Rugby Academy - where does it go from here?

Hey, don't write yourself off yet

It's only in your head, you feel left out

Or looked down on

Just try your best

Try everything you can

And don't you worry what they tell themselves

When you're away

It just takes some time

The Middle - Jimmy Eat World

At the start of last season (2023/24), there were just four players listed on the club website as being part of the Coventry Academy - David Opoku, Harry Stone, Leo Jowett and Theo Mannion.

And all senior Academy players at that.

Just a week ago, the club announced that Jowett and Stone would be exiting the BPA, leaving just the two players remaining.

Both Opoku and Mannion saw game time in the final couple of league fixtures suggesting that perhaps it won't be too long before they are offered senior contracts. Were this to be the case, then potentially the Academy would be bereft of any players whatsoever, the first time that would have occurred since its launch back in 2017.

So where then is the next generation of youngsters coming through; those first and second-year Academy players who have yet to progress into the ranks of the senior Academy?

As far as I'm aware there are none, at least I've not seen any information regarding names and there don't appear to have been any updates this season as to what is happening on the Academy front as there have been in seasons' past.

It might well be that the Academy is still running with a full cohort of players attached to junior clubs in the leagues below the Championship, but that seems unlikely given the absence of any information on the website?

And bizarrely just this week, Coventry Rugby announced the signing of three players - Charles Robson (22), Steff Davies (22 and Dan Green (19) - players heralded under the headline 'Coventry Rugby sign three more for the future'.

Now the reason why I question the role the Academy has going into next season and beyond is that these three players are exactly the type of youngsters we would have been developing in the Academy a few seasons back, yet it appears they've been offered fully professional contracts from the onset.

Does this mean there's a shift in emphasis in terms of recruitment, with Cov relying less on nurturing its own young talent through the Academy, instead preferring to move in for slightly older players most of whom have already had experience of playing rugby at a semi-professional level prior to joining Cov?

As I recall, the initial idea behind the original launching of what was then the Coventry Rugby Development Academy was to develop young talented players, home grown, between the ages of 18 and 24. These youngsters would train with the senior squad whilst also undertaking qualifications and earing some sort of basic wage. In addition, they would either play for a Coventry side within the Zoo league (remember that farce?) or go out on loan to junior clubs in the leagues below National One.

It was to be the beginnings of a pathway that would see mostly local youngsters develop their rugby careers with Coventry Rugby from junior school age upwards, although as far as I know, Cov has never had a team below Under 18s?

In the years since its inauguration back in 2017, the Academy has seen a large number of players go through the system, with many of those going on to wear the first team jersey in the national leagues, including:

Tom Ball

James Martin

Fin Ogden

Ollie Betteridge

Jake Bridges

Fred Betteridge

David Opoku

Theo Mannion

Evan Mitchell

Luc Jeannot

Louis James

Harry Stone

Rhys Thomas

Cameron Gray

Kwaku Asiedu

Kalius Hutchinson

Sam McNulty

Ollie Stone

In addition, many others have gone on to enjoy successful careers elsewhere, including the likes off:

Matt Titchener

Will Flinn

Joe Lane

Isaac McNulty

Joe Brock

Tom Stanton

Tom Curtis

Joe Richardson

This is by no means a definitive list and there will be those reading this post with far better memories than mine (please do add to it by leaving a comment at the end!), but it's complete enough to show just how successful the club has been in recent years at developing young, talented players in-house.

Perhaps, though, the vision shared with supporters by Jon Sharp and Rowland Winter back in 2017 is one that no longer has relevance 7 seasons on. The game has changed so much since then, as have Coventry's own fortunes, and with the club's budget so drastically reduced by the RFU's one-eyed approach to the Championship, maybe it is just too costly to keep going.

I think most supporters really bought into the idea of the Academy and watching youngsters like Martin and Ball become part of the foundations on which the club's successes over the last two seasons have been built has been particularly pleasing.

But it's not just been about producing players who will one day wear the Cov shirt, it's also been about giving youngsters a foothold into the game and ensuring that the game of rugby, and not just Coventry Rugby, has a slightly brighter future than it might others have had.

So, from that angle it would be disappointing to lose the Academy, as well as being a blow to youngsters in and around Coventry who perhaps saw it as another route into the professional game if they weren't able to attract the interest of the likes of Wasps and Worcester.

But needs must and all that...

Maybe I'm just misreading the situation and the reality is that there's a thriving Coventry Rugby Academy full of youngsters who are making waves and who we'll all be seeing at the BPA in the not-too-distant future.

If that really is the case though, then it would be good to learn about the continuing successes so we can follow the progress of these youngsters and continue to celebrate the outstanding success the club has previously enjoyed in developing its own home-grown talent.

At the moment though, it does rather seem that were Old Mother Cupboard to wander down to the BPA and have a good old look around, then she'd feel quite at home...

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