Alfie Barbeary from RugbyPass

[Fats]

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/excitement-and-expectation-reign-around-alfie-barbeary-but-so-should-caution

[Neils]

A good level headed article. Thanks for the link.

[Hymenoptera]

Watched the reel and still don't understand how he makes the ground he does..

[Rossm]

I think he used to play centre.

[Raggs]

He still does for his school. Played there last week. He has the skillset.

[Rory87]

Its a really well written article isn't it. I posted it on DW before i discovered this forum.

I want to believe that the relocation is complete and we're settled, so can now focus on the academy more than we have been able to the past few seasons.

I am a huge fan of Dai (which has perhaps been evident in my recent posts on DW). However, I'm also very aware that our progression of youngsters has only really been a success when his hand has been forced due to injuries. I therefore really hope that the reality check of this season has turned his attentions towards placing more focus on our development path and opportunities given to our homegrown crop.

I know we don't announce contract lengths. However, perhaps one of the biggest & best PR stunts the club could do currently, is annouce 5 year (or just 'long term') contracts for our core group of homegrown youngsters.

Willis J (although i think signed up to a new deal end of last season)
Willis T
Oghre
Sirker
Porter
Umaga
etc.

Sale did it a few seaosns back and i was really impressed with it and got the impression they had a vision for the future. PLUS it locks in these guys so we don't have another summer of losing large chunks of homegrown talent.