YOUNG GUNS

NAHUMMERIGAN BATH NO.8

Should it transpire that Zach Mercer leaves Bath this summer, one of the club’s academy products set to benefit by moving up the pecking order would be Nahum Merigan, their Tauntonborn No.8 who was recently named in England’s U20 Six Nations squad.

Having played his junior rugby at Taunton RFC while earning a scholarship to the renowned Taunton School, Merigan’s potential was spotted by Bath, who whisked him away at 16 to join their AASE programme at Beechen Cliff School, where he quickly progressed.

“I was always one of those kids who played everything,” says Merigan, 19. “I did athletics, football and was heavily into my basketball and cricket, but I was lucky enough to get into Taunton School where rugby was big and started getting into county sides.

“I got a pretty good grounding at Taunton Rugby Club as well and played for them until the U16s, but after that I moved to Bath and boarded at Beechen Cliff.

“I had a lot of support from Andy Rock, who was Bath’s academy manager at the time, and Beechen Cliff has been a brilliant breeding ground for Bath. Being there made it much easier to transition to the senior environment and you’ve seen people like Tom de Glanville and Miles Reid pushing on quite quickly after coming through the same route as me.”

After making his first team debut in last season’s Premiership Cup and following up with a Champions Cup appearance against Harlequins, Covid-19 has applied a frustrating brake to his hopes of making further senior appearances since last August’s restart.

However, he has tapped into some impressive role models while forcing his way into England U20s contention via the preChristmas U20s North v South games.

He explained: “I would say I’m primarily a No.8, although I can play at six as well, and there’s a really good mix of competition at the club with Toby Faletau, Zach Mercer and Sam Underhill through to younger role models like Miles Reid and Josh Bayliss.

“Everyone at the club is really easy to talk to and seek advice from and I also get a lot of support from coaches like Mark Lilley and Ryan Davis who, like me, worked with the academy before doing more with the first team. I’m not short of good advice.”

Merigan adds: “Toby’s very different to your classic Billy Vunipola, who’s a very big ball-carrier. He’s got great footwork so he’s able to beat players that way, while Sam is one of the world’s best No.7s and I’m learning tackling techniques from him.

“Further afield, I’m probably a bit like Sam Simmonds in that I consider myself as a ballcarrying No.8 who can also use my footwork, and I can ball play as well by bringing people into the game with offloads and playing the ball at the line. When I need to, I can keep the ball tucked under the shirt as well, so I’m probably a bit of an all-rounder.”