Colts
The Development Pathway
At London Scottish we help develop players from the earliest ages (U6 and below) to become the best players they can be, and with over 30% of our players Scottish Qualified one of our primary aims is to develop future Scottish talent.
Junior Elite Programme
When the players reach the U16-U18 age group many are looking to move on from playing rugby for fun only, to playing rugby in the future. London Scottish responds by providing a professional coaching and development programme called the Junior Elite Programme. We find many new players join the club at this level because London Scottish provides a link to:
• Professional rugby – they see David Morris (LSFC Director of Rugby) overseeing the playing and coaching at this level, and recognise the clear link between players in this group moving on to play professional rugby in the future.
• Scottish Rugby – this is an important differentiator for many of our players and many travel from outside London to play for us as a result.
The Junior Elite Programme is run with an academy like set-up and a professional coaching structure provided by:
• Michael Mullins - who also runs the rugby programme at Isleworth and Syon, one of our partner schools.
• Neil MacFarlane - who has coached this age group for the last 3 years.
• Phil Cringle - current 1st XV prop and ex Scottish U20 player.
• Deanna Bailey - Physio.
• David Morris - Director of Rugby also casts his eye over progress and provides the link to the senior teams in the club.
Coaching starts with Pre-Season each July building core skills, strength and conditioning, and developing patterns of play. This continues throughout the season each Wednesday night when we train alongside the senior amateur players. This sets us up for the season proper and matches on a Sunday. The players want to play week in, week out in order to challenge themselves, so we play:
• U17 – league matches in the Herts and Middlesex Leagues.
• Colts (U16-U18) - competitive friendlies against local opposition (Saracens, Wasps, Reeds).
• Junior Elite (U16-U18) – elite matches 5-6 times throughout the season (Ealing academy, Modena Rugby).
The different games give the players a chance to develop against a broad range of styles and standards.
Over the years we have had demonstrable success with this approach and this year two previous players are playing with the 1sts Xv - Taino Goveia, Miles Wakeling – one player - Matas Jurevicus - is on loan to a junior club on development, and two play with the London Scottish senior amateurs - Hamish Whitear, Noah De Wild.
London Scottish are delighted that Friends of Scottish Rugby are supporting this area of the club, helping London Scottish pull through more Scottish talent onto the next level of rugby.
Ian Hannah,
LSFC Colts Manager
Click below for more about the Colts on the London Scottish website:
LSFC - Colts