Blackett: Exciting time for young English hopefuls
WASPS head coach Lee Blackett believes a postlockdown surge of homegrown talent is set to provide England boss Eddie Jones with riches he could never have dreamed of.
With a packed Premiership schedule ensuring clubs must utilise entire squads, Blackett believes a host of new names throughout the league will emerge as Red Rose prospects.
At Wasps, No.10 Jacob Umaga, flanker Jack Willis and hooker Gabriel Oghre have already made their mark to move on to England’s
radar, but Blackett expects more to follow across the board in what may herald a thrilling golden era for the Premiership’s production line.
“I think this is going to be a great period for young English players and when we reflect in eight weeks’ time, there’ll be a load of new names jumping out,” he told The Rugby Paper.
“People within the academies know who they are, but everyone will soon start to recognise them and if it propels people into the international set-ups a bit quicker or gets them out there, that can only be a good thing.
“If you were an academy kid anywhere in the Premiership at this moment in time, you’d be ridiculously excited.”
Blackett added: “We’ve seen Jack Willis, Jacob Umaga and Gabriel Oghre come through here and we expect them to keep on improving, but by the end of this season I’d like to think others will have a chance to claim the jersey.
“Charlie Atkinson, as an 18-year-old kid at No.10, has trained with us throughout the summer and there are loads of others. Will Porter, Sam Spink, Alfie Barbeary – they’ll all get opportunities and it’s up to them to take them and spark a new golden era here.”
Meanwhile, Blackett is backing forgotten scrumhalf Ben Vellacott to roar back into England contention after recovering from the ACL injury he suffered last September.
Despite playing age group rugby for Scotland, the 24-year-old former Gloucester No.9 has been name-checked by Jones as a potential successor to Ben Youngs and Willi Heinz and will go head-to-head with Dan Robson and Porter.
Blackett said: “Ben’s raring to go. He came back from lockdown in unbelievable condition, especially when you consider his injury, and he’s the fittest in the squad, much stronger and quicker than he was before.
“He’s got vast competition here in Dan Robson and they drive each other as close friends as well, but as with any individual, we want them to do their very best for Wasps and, hopefully, international honours follow.
“We want all our young English guys to get international call-ups because that’s part of our job. Our main thing is supporting Wasps and making sure we’re successful here, but beyond that it’s about getting our England guys into the international set-up.”
A golden period also beckons for homegrown coaches, with Blackett joining George Skivington (Gloucester), Steve Borthwick (Leicester) and Neal Hatley (Bath) in top jobs.
“You can’t not be excited about it,” adds Blackett. “A few years ago, all the talk was about the same older guys moving from club to club in key roles, so to now get to an era where younger English coaches are getting chances is really good.”