Ones to watch from your club this season

[Scrumhead]

With Louis Lynagh and Jack Kenningham really stepping up last season and Hugh Tizard looking pretty good as well, the Quins academy has some recent successes to point towards and I think that may well continue.

This season I’d expect to see more of:

Sam Riley - mobile England U20 hooker with a similar playing style to LCD. We already have Jack Musk and George Head who are promising young hookers, but I expect Riley to leapfrog both.

Fin Baxter - very highly rated as a tighthead through the age grades but appears to be moving across the scrum to loosehead. If he lives up to his promise, he could be the long term heir to Joe Marler.

George Hammond - partnered Tizard in the England U20s and IMO, looked to be the more talented of the two. Tizard has seen a bit more game time so far, but I suspect that may be down to him being more physically ready. If Hammond can bulk up, I think he’ll see some first team action.

Honourable mention for Oscar Beard who made his debut last season, but I suspect there may be a bit to much back three talent for him to see too much game time this time round.

Who’s ready to make the breakthrough with your club?

[fivepointer]

Riley looked mighty impressive for the u20's. He should get opportunities this season.

[FKAS]

Riley looked mighty impressive for the u20's. He should get opportunities this season.

I don't think Quins have replaced a like for like replacement for Baldwin so there should be space for him to push on. He'd certainly suit how Quins like to play the game and Quins could do with a high quality hooker emerging. Not sure Jack Walker will be there long term answer at hooker.

Tigers ones to watch? I think we're all well aware of the EQ ones in Heyes, Martin, Chessum, Henderson, JVP, Kelly and Steward. We saw all of them last season. There's some more young EQ talent coming through but this season might be too soon and most of the most promising ones are out on loan at Nottingham in the Championship.

Dan Lancaster, the England under 20 centre or flyhalf has joined this summer and it'll be interesting to see how he does. Was a promising debut Vs Jersey last night with a very mature performance after replacing Burns earlier than expected.

Hosea Saumaki, made his debut and scored yesterday. A try scoring machine in Japan he's a big lad but has got some real pace. The Prem will before physical and test his positional play more but if he can cope with that he'll be a real threat out wide.

Marco van Staden the SA bowling ball openside has also signed up. I'm expecting him to make his presence felt in attack and defence when he arrives in November.

[Scrumhead]

A bit harsh on Walker. I wouldn’t put them on the same level ATM, but he has definitely been signed as Baldwin’s replacement/starting hooker.

It’ll be interesting to see whether he finds another gear with the opportunity to be first choice. He might not be the long term choice, but I definitely think he has the potential to improve in a new environment. He had a lot of hype about him as a youngster and hasn’t really delivered on it yet, but who knows? He’s still pretty young and his best years could be ahead of him.

I have very high hopes for Riley but he’s just turned 20 and is yet to make a Premiership appearance. I imagine we will integrate him in to the side gradually rather than expecting him to challenge for a starting spot too soon.

From a Tigers POV, I’m most interested in Chessum. Mostly because I don’t know much about him in comparison to the others you mentioned (apart from him being a massive ginger lock/flanker).

[chris1850]

From a Sale POV, all eyes will be on Raffi Quirke who has every opportunity to star with Faf missing much of the first half of the season. Also time for Kieron Wilkinson to put his hand up at FH. After a terrible injury a couple of years ago, he showed glimpses of his potential again at the end of last season. With AJ likely to be away with USA early on, it is up to Wilkinson to dislodge Rob du Preez for the starting 10 berth. FB was a problem position for us last season with neither Hammersley or Luke James showing enough to nail the place down. So watch out for two academy products - Joe Carpenter and Elliot Gourlay, both of whom have showed considerable promise.

Really looking forward to seeing more of James Harper at TH, and having lost two senior THs (WGJ and JCW), whilst signing just one (Schonert), it looks as though Axe is putting his faith in Harper. The thought of a Front Row of Rodd, Ashman and Harper in a couple of years is genuinely exciting (at least to a Sale fan!). We need to keep hold of Ashman and not let the sweaties tempt him north as he also gets better each time he plays.

One last thought. There are signs that Denny Solomona may be back in contention. If he has managed to get his head straight and regained full fitness, it will be akin to a new signing. There are few better finishers in the Prem.

Roll on the new season!

[FKAS]

A bit harsh on Walker. I wouldn’t put them on the same level ATM, but he has definitely been signed as Baldwin’s replacement/starting hooker.

It’ll be interesting to see whether he finds another gear with the opportunity to be first choice. He might not be the long term choice, but I definitely think he has the potential to improve in a new environment. He had a lot of hype about him as a youngster and hasn’t really delivered on it yet, but who knows? He’s still pretty young and his best years could be ahead of him.

I have very high hopes for Riley but he’s just turned 20 and is yet to make a Premiership appearance. I imagine we will integrate him in to the side gradually rather than expecting him to challenge for a starting spot too soon.

From a Tigers POV, I’m most interested in Chessum. Mostly because I don’t know much about him in comparison to the others you mentioned (apart from him being a massive ginger lock/flanker).

Walker was an age grade England captain, made his debut for Leeds/Yorkshire or whatever they called themselves at the time at 17 and then was captain a year later (I think). Moved with much fanfare to Bath and has done little since. I'm not sure yet whether he's one that just maxed his potential early in his career, it does happen sometimes, or he's one that has a reservoir of untapped potential. Be interesting to see what happens with him.

Riley should be looking for some game time but as I said a senior spot not the starting spot should be his aim this season.

Chessum is a really good lineout jumper, he's mobile and he has a good work rate. Issue for him is that he's not physical enough to push his way in at lock or 6 and doesn't call the lineout. There's plenty of frame for him to bulk out and gain that physicality. He's represented England at age level but I think he's more likely to be a very good club man the kind that you can rely on every week. However, with England's issues taking locks onto international level he might get some caps. Unfortunately he went off with a niggle early in the game Vs Jersey last night.

[Scrumhead]

In fairness to Walker, he had a few reasonably serious injury problems (a foot or ankle IIRC) and that must have curtailed some of his development. I’m not suggesting he’s going to go from a second choice at Bath to a top class player at Quins, but hopefully the ‘reservoir of untapped potential’ is released in a torrent of quality performances.

Really excited by what I’ve seen from Harper and as Chris said, the fact that they didn’t sign a direct replacement for one of the outgoing senior tightheads suggests they think he is ready for first team rugby. I know Sanderson has been really complimentary which definitely bodes well.

Plenty of game time for Quirke and JvP is great from an England POV.

[Raggs]

Barbeary is an obvious one and looking likely to be at hooker. Oghre is less breakthrough but another that could potentially start knocking at the door for England more often.

Curran in the backrow has a lot in front of him but has looked promising.

Spink and Simonds are both centres i believe, and given how we seem to go through them, might get a chance.

Odogwu will hopefully continue his breakthrough at 13.

[Scrumhead]

Do you rate Oghre that highly? I think he’s a decent enough player, but based upon what I’ve seen so far, he’s not someone I’d see necessarily see as a future test player.

I know he recently trained with England but that was without George, Cowan-Dickie and Singleton (who was originally called up) and then Langdon and Blamire were selected ahead of him. If Barbeary is going to be a hooker, he’d be ahead of Oghre too.

[FKAS]

Do you rate Oghre that highly? I think he’s a decent enough player, but based upon what I’ve seen so far, he’s not someone I’d see necessarily see as a future test player.

I know he recently trained with England but that was without George, Cowan-Dickie and Singleton (who was originally called up) and then Langdon and Blamire were selected ahead of him. If Barbeary is going to be a hooker, he’d be ahead of Oghre too.

It's the big question with Barbeary isn't it, can he actually play hooker? Are his darts good enough, scrum skills up to scratch and most importantly can he do the tight work and still do the all action stuff in the loose or will the tight work and scrums take too much out of his legs. If Barbeary can do the hooker jobs and still play like he has been then he's one in a generation talent and between him and Blamire then we are looking good for the near future. I suspect it's going to be a big ask for Babeary to replicate what he has been doing at hooker but we can dream of having an English Dane Coles.

[Adam_P]

Players I'm expecting big things from at Saints this season:

Juarno Augustus - hopefully just what our pack has been missing out on lately, a big, powerful ball carrier. Potential to be real quality. Think a back row of 6. Harrison 7. Ludlam 8. Augustus could be very fun to watch.

Alex Coles - although he's already racked up a decent number of appearances, I have a feeling that this might be the season where he really steps up and establishes himself as a first team starter.

Tommy Freeman - again, like Coles he got a decent number of appearances last season, but I think he's really going to nail down the starting 15 shirt this season. He's fast, powerful, can kick and most notably seems so calm on the ball and consistently makes the right decision.

[fivepointer]

I dont support a particular club but i'm interested to see how the following get on this season.

Bath - Max Ojomoh. Shown plenty of promise now needs to back it up with consistent game time. Tom deGlanville should also be one to keep an eye on.
Bristol - Fitz Harding. Looked very good when he got the chance last season.
Exeter - Marcus Street. Now is his time to seriously challenge to make the starting spot his own. Would love to see Aaron Hinckley get a meaningful run of games.
Gloucester - Jack Clement. Impressive for the U20s and already with some 1st team experience.
Harlequins - Sam Riley. Equally good for the U20s and a dynamic ball playing hooker. Can Jack Kenningham follow up last seasons impressive form?
Leicester - Dan Kelly. Liked what i've seen but want to see more. JvP is surely destined for a serious amount of game time.
London Irish - Chunya Munga. There's not a glut of big young locks around, so its going to be interesting to see how his experience with England has impacted upon him.
Newcastle - Will Haydon-Wood. May not get much game time but Falcons don't have many options at 10 and he might get some opportunities. Probably a little early for Phil Brantingham at prop, but he might get the odd game.
Northampton - Ollie Sleightholme. Has really impressed me. Seriously quick. Tommy Freeman was great last season and I think Alex Coles has a lot to offer.
Sale - James Harper. Reasons to be cautiously optimistic about this lad. Very young still but has the build and a season with sensible management should enable his technique to develop. Aaron Reed is a quick, dangerous wing worth looking out for.
Saracens - Sam Crean. Liked what I saw before relegation.
Wasps - Alfie Barbeary. Time to find out just how well he can play hooker. Hopefully Tom Willis can continue his development from last season and his brother can come back with a bang.
Worcester - Fin Smith. Still very young but he didnt looked overawed last season in a struggling side.

[Puja]

I'm interested in seeing what George Martin makes of being surplus to requirements for England this summer. I'm hoping to see more of him at lock and that he's ready to make another step up.

I also want to see the reactions of all the tyros involved wih England in the summer. They've all been shown the elite training environment and they've all been told what they need to do to get back there - seeing who is willing to fight for that will tell us a lot more about their international future than scoring a try or three against Canada did. I want to see how the likes of Blamire, Radwan, Kelly, Ojomoh, Munga, etc react. I suspect there'll be at least one kicking on that no-one expects (Oghre possibly) and at least one who is ostensibly more talented who ends up being comfortable with a 1 cap career.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

I dont support a particular club but i'm interested to see how the following get on this season.

Bath - Max Ojomoh. Shown plenty of promise now needs to back it up with consistent game time. Tom deGlanville should also be one to keep an eye on.
Bristol - Fitz Harding. Looked very good when he got the chance last season.
Exeter - Marcus Street. Now is his time to seriously challenge to make the starting spot his own. Would love to see Aaron Hinckley get a meaningful run of games.
Gloucester - Jack Clement. Impressive for the U20s and already with some 1st team experience.
Harlequins - Sam Riley. Equally good for the U20s and a dynamic ball playing hooker. Can Jack Kenningham follow up last seasons impressive form?
Leicester - Dan Kelly. Liked what i've seen but want to see more. JvP is surely destined for a serious amount of game time.
London Irish - Chunya Munga. There's not a glut of big young locks around, so its going to be interesting to see how his experience with England has impacted upon him.
Newcastle - Will Haydon-Wood. May not get much game time but Falcons don't have many options at 10 and he might get some opportunities. Probably a little early for Phil Brantingham at prop, but he might get the odd game.
Northampton - Ollie Sleightholme. Has really impressed me. Seriously quick. Tommy Freeman was great last season and I think Alex Coles has a lot to offer.
Sale - James Harper. Reasons to be cautiously optimistic about this lad. Very young still but has the build and a season with sensible management should enable his technique to develop. Aaron Reed is a quick, dangerous wing worth looking out for.
Saracens - Sam Crean. Liked what I saw before relegation.
Wasps - Alfie Barbeary. Time to find out just how well he can play hooker. Hopefully Tom Willis can continue his development from last season and his brother can come back with a bang.
Worcester - Fin Smith. Still very young but he didnt looked overawed last season in a struggling side.

I’m interested in all of those too.

Ojomoh should get a decent opportunity this season. With Redpath injured, he’s competing with Matavesi (who is rumoured to be leaving) and Max Wright who is more of a back-up player.

If he can make the most of it and Kelly keeps doing well for Tigers, the future of the England 12 shirt could get a bit more interesting.

A real wildcard I forgot to mention at Quins is Hayden Hyde. He played with Dan Kelly for Ireland U20s and has just come back to us from Ulster (where he was doing well). He’s from Surrey and while he’s got a few unfortunate interviews proclaiming ‘it was always Ireland’, he’s ruled himself out in the short term by coming back to Quins. He’s a tall (6’3”) 12 who likes an offload (kind of reminds me of Mark Atkinson at Gloucester). With Tapuai and Lang leaving, we don’t have that many specialist 12s behind Esterhuizen, so I think he might get a few opportunities.

I'm interested in seeing what George Martin makes of being surplus to requirements for England this summer. I'm hoping to see more of him at lock and that he's ready to make another step up.

I also want to see the reactions of all the tyros involved wih England in the summer. They've all been shown the elite training environment and they've all been told what they need to do to get back there - seeing who is willing to fight for that will tell us a lot more about their international future than scoring a try or three against Canada did. I want to see how the likes of Blamire, Radwan, Kelly, Ojomoh, Munga, etc react. I suspect there'll be at least one kicking on that no-one expects (Oghre possibly) and at least one who is ostensibly more talented who ends up being comfortable with a 1 cap career.

Puja

Agreed on all of the above, although I expect to see Martin in the back row for at least the first half of this season. Tigers’ depth at lock looks pretty solid whereas back row doesn’t look quite as deep with Wiese and van Staden out of the picture for a good while yet.

[Raggs]

Do you rate Oghre that highly? I think he’s a decent enough player, but based upon what I’ve seen so far, he’s not someone I’d see necessarily see as a future test player.

I know he recently trained with England but that was without George, Cowan-Dickie and Singleton (who was originally called up) and then Langdon and Blamire were selected ahead of him. If Barbeary is going to be a hooker, he’d be ahead of Oghre too.

He's got serious talent. Good carrier with good feet, and decent hands. I don't know if he can break down the England door, but I think he can certainly be knocking on it if he gets a few decent games.

[Scrumhead]

Fair enough. I guess ‘good carrier with good feet and decent hands’ is more or less how I think of him. It’s not that I don’t rate him, I’ve just not seen anything to make me think he’s got the level of potential to be a regular member of the England squad.

[Digby]

With George only being 30 it's not obvious any hooker outside the EPS will start to gain caps, injuries perhaps the only route unless someone is just astonishing

[FKAS]

With George only being 30 it's not obvious any hooker outside the EPS will start to gain caps, injuries perhaps the only route unless someone is just astonishing

Well with the Lions rest game during the AIs someone will get a chance to show something this Autumn. Whether that's third and fourth choice during the Tonga game or its third choice on the bench for Tonga and Australia with George and LCD taking a start each.

[Scrumhead]

Yeah. I’d imagine it’ll be something like that.

Third choice is an interesting debate.

On ability and suitability, I’d have gone with Dunn, but Eddie’s never seemed keen and missing the summer games with a ban (I think he probably would have been picked), won’t have done him any favours.

Singleton (through no fault of his own) missed a chance to put himself back in the box seat, but I wouldn’t rule him out yet. The Saracens move was a bit of a disaster, but if he can get back to the level of form he had at Worcester, he could make a good case.

Barbeary is the obvious contender to be ‘just astonishing’ but to do that, he’s got to play at hooker and demonstrate that he has the set piece game to match his ability in the loose.

Opposition not withstanding, I think Blamire definitely put his hand up over the summer and looked good in both tests. I’d expect to see him get a decent amount of game time this season. Langdon did OK, but not well enough to be a serious contender IMO.

Anyone else is probably a long shot.

[jngf]

Would rather like to see Barbeary given a try out at 8 given that spot seems up for grabs in the wake Billy’s form (though not averse to any of Dombrandt, Tom Willis or Lewis Ludlum being given a shot there too - purposely not including the openside flanker shaped elephant in the room of course though I think he should persuade the Chiefs to start playing him at flanker if he’s ever going to get into an Eddie squad again )

[Scrumhead]

I imagine your elephant likes hanging around in the centres too much for that TBH. That’s only slightly tongue in cheek. IMO, asking to play at flanker would potentially help him, but I’m more inclined to think it would simply expose that he’s not notably good over the ball and is not a dominant tackler which doesn’t benefit him, Exeter or England.

As far as Barbeary at 8, I don’t dislike the idea. It would definitely suit his carrying game. However, the quality of options at 8 coming through (most of whom you mentioned) is better than what we have at hooker behind LCD and George. Why have Dombrandt or Barbeary when (assuming the latter actually settles at hooker) you could potentially have both?

[Digby]

Because LCD and Barbeary might be better than Barbeary and Dombrandt might be the thinking

[jngf]

Tbh I would be very happy to see Dombrandt or T Willis (or even an Indian Summer from Morgan) at 8 and Barbeary at 2. With Sam Simmonds, any of 6,7,12 or 13 though I still feel flanker rather than center is more realistic. On a slightly different tack, I was very impressed with Underhill’s attacking game in the most recent England tests and am hoping he can keep this up in AI’s. This guy strikes me as one of those England forwards (like Winterbottom,Hall,Teague and Richards) - naturally tough/ chiselled from granite

[Scrumhead]

Well Morgan has barely played in the last couple of seasons and was anonymous when he did. As much as I liked him, I wouldn’t be forecasting an Indian summer for him. It would have to come out of nowhere and with Ackermann and Clement likely to be the preferred options for the Gloucester 8 shirt.

From Simmonds POV playing at flanker is a risk that I don’t think would pay off. Right now, he’s an undisputed starter and is key to Exeter’s system. I can’t see Baxter completely changing his game plan/set up to accommodate a change of position for Simmonds when it it’s not really for the benefit of the team. Simmonds basically plays as a ‘3rd centre’ or ‘8th back’ (both Exeter quotes). Switching him to 7 would take that option away and would require them to re-jig their main attacking set-up. Unlikely IMO. Even if they did try it, nothing I have seen from Simmonds suggests his core skills (as a flanker) are good enough to compete with the likes of Curry, Underhill, Willis etc.

[FKAS]

I imagine your elephant likes hanging around in the centres too much for that TBH. That’s only slightly tongue in cheek. IMO, asking to play at flanker would potentially help him, but I’m more inclined to think it would simply expose that he’s not notably good over the ball and is not a dominant tackler which doesn’t benefit him, Exeter or England.

As far as Barbeary at 8, I don’t dislike the idea. It would definitely suit his carrying game. However, the quality of options at 8 coming through (most of whom you mentioned) is better than what we have at hooker behind LCD and George. Why have Dombrandt or Barbeary when (assuming the latter actually settles at hooker) you could potentially have both?

The problem with Barbeary is that he hasn't played at hooker and shown that he can both do that job and still be a wrecking ball in the loose. The tight game required from a hooker will take far more out of his legs. That's before we get on to the topic of whether his lineout is any good or not.

Hooker isn't an easy slot to fill either. George and LCD are of an ideal age to reach to the next world cup. LCD could easily feature at the next two. Blamire looks like a young Jamie George and I'd hope he was in the EPS so that he can learn from George and LCD to help polish off some of those rough edges. He's certainly a big enough boy and looked entirely at home in the summer. We also saw Sam Riley ripping it up for England under 20s. After the next world cup he'll be a good age to take on the contest for the Quins starting shirt and start looking towards developing on.

At 8 there's Billy and there's a lost of pretenders led by Dombrandt who had a decent showing in the summer. Behind him there's Tom Willis, Chick and a couple of others but none are really showing the all game work rate that Billy offers and that Eddie likes. Dombrandt is getting much closer and is at an ideal age to break through there's no guarantees currently. Billy is still somehow only 28 so having an explosive option like Barbeary in the squad could work as a point of difference for England if they keep the big man on.