Senior Academy Promotions

[Damian68]

https://twitter.com/WaspsRugby/status/1123556609681240064

First Team recognition for some of our Senior Academy prospects after their excellent 'A' League form?

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Depends how precisely Dai picks his words, but that would tend to suggest at least 3 will be coming 'up'. Announcement to be made 'shortly'. To me that means within the next couple of weeks.

[RBB]

If I were to place a bet, it will be Oghre, Sirker and Umaga. Perhaps we should start a Poll?

[Dgwasp]

Willis looked a very complete player for England last Friday.

[Damian68]

Poll isn't very fair as it only allows for one selection but, if I had to identify a single individual that I feel must be promoted, it would be Sirker (as a natural successor to Wadey).

[Raggs]

Umaga, Willis, Oghre and Sirker.

[Heathen]

Barbeary is young I know, but has huge talent. Would be exceptionally p'd off if we lost him through not putting him on a decent contract.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

Can't ignore Spink, Anderson, and Porter either.

[Raggs]

I believe some of them can be kept on senior academy contracts for now. Barbaery is obviously a gem, we need to keep him, but if he can stay in the academy then that's better.

[JonnyD]

All depends on how the academy credits work now from the RFU, if I remember rightly there is no age limit to an academy member, however, there may be a time limit that a player can be in the senior academy for.
Does anyone know the finer details?

If it is more beneficial for the club in terms or credits and not impacting on the cap then players will just be kept in the academy for as long as possible.

My understanding of it is anyone who joined the club before they were 18 do not count towards the academy salary cap.

Will Stuart and Tom West only came up last year at the age of 22. Therefore next in line would be Owain James (who joined the club younger than 18) who has been in the academy a long time in a make or break year perhaps, unfortunately for him he has been out for most of the year with his acl.
Then Umaga and Oghre. Cardall and Langley are older I believe but have only been in a premiership academy system for 1 and 2 years respectively. Umaga might have just crept in but the other threejoined the club after their 18th birthdays.
Sirker and all the promotions last year are all about 19 so could stay in the academy for a few more years.
Porter and Willis will possibly remain for another season as are still u20.
All of these guys do not count towards the cap.

Of course whether they are academy or not does not interfere with whether they can be used within the first team.
Not sure if they can be offered improved academy deals as this is potentially where we need to be careful with the likes of Willis and Barbeary as they grow older, that they aren’t attracted by higher offers along the way. (Edit: saw this time last year Oghre and Willis was offered extended deals despite still staying in the academy)

Imagine it will only be James ( for whom home grown credits would apply) Oghre, Umaga, Cardall and Langley who would even be considered for promotions this year. Would be surprised if it makes sense for others to come up yet as they have years on their side and are not included in the cap, but as I have said I am not sure of all the workings and other possible politics that might be involved

[Heathen]

I thought that Langley was leaving? Or have I confused him with someone else?

[BG]

I believe Langley is off to Jersey.

I also suspect that James' opportunity may have passed him by. I wonder how much Snr academy players are paid? If there's a time restriction on how long a player can be in the Snr academy what's to stop them being promoted on the same salary.. or a sliding salary?

Dai is a bit vague with his wording but he refers to performances of the A team over the last few months. The stand out players in that period (albeit from highlights) I think are Porter, Oghre and Sirker. Porter and Oghre have already tasted time in the 1st team.

Dai might leave some of the foward prospects in the academy for one more year but give a couple of them (Willis, Cardall) one off games in the Premiership Cup

[Heathen]

Tom Willis should be in our first team squad. He has the potential to be a better player than his bro.

[Jac A]

Good post JonnyD.

I agree that the probable promotions will be Oghre, Tom Willis, Umaga and possibly Porter.

Oghre will probably replace TJ in the first team with Alfie Barbeary the academy hooker. Tom Willis is nearly ready, he will be away at the u20 World Cup squad and may even be captain in a very good back-row with Hill and Hinkley. I think we will need another 9 to replace Hampson as we need 4 in and around the squad so Poter but that may mean Porter has another year in the academy.

James has been really unlucky with his injury this season but has been at Wasps since he was a kid and has shown glimpses of potential. I doubt he would be promoted this year, but if he was happy to stay in the academy for another year he might be able to break into the first team at some point. However, I think that he may well be another like O'Conor who could go down a league for a couple of seasons and become a Prem quality player.

As said, Sirker has only been in the academy this year. Matt Everard said after one of the A league games that he was on a two-year program to transition back to XVs and I expect that this means he will have another year in the academy but hopefully getting some first team game time.

[JonnyD]

From a little bit of reading and it could be outdated information now and could well change next year but...

- academy salary cap is 100k.
-however, Anyone who signed for the club before they were 18 is not included in the cap. (Therefore only Cardall, Oghre and Langley are in this cap I believe - not sure how old Will Wilson is.)
- home grown RFU credits are up to a total of 600k for players in your senior squad who have been there since before they were 18, 50k for each player.
... so with Simpson, Daly and Stuart leaving that only leaves us being paid 150k by the RFU for our home grown players in West, Launchbury and Jack Willis.
Essentially Owain James, for example could be promoted and have 50k of his salary paid for already by the RFU due to the shortfalls of home grown players we have in the squad.
However, because he is homegrown he could also stay in the academy (unless there is a time limit) because he wouldn’t appear in the cap either (but someone still has to float the bill of course)

- also doesn’t seem to be a limit I can find anywhere of money you can invest in people for education or training outside of rugby so all of the uni contracts and Dave Atwood type incentives on top of contracts would not be in the cap (not sure about property development training!!!)

So what I am saying is we have room for 9 more home grown players in the senior squad where £50k of their wages would be paid for by the RFU
This could be the reason James, Oghre, Umaga, Porter and Willis come up this year as they’d all be a better management of the cap, squad size and Derek Richardson’s cash.