Cardiff Met help put Rigg on his way to Coventry
COMING straight out of university, Will Rigg has earned a Championship contract with Coventry and hopes to replicate the success of his fellow Cardiff Met graduates.
The university boasts an impressive alumnus that includes England international and Harlequins No.8 Alex Dombrandt, London Irish’s Tom Pearson and Quins centre Luke Northmore.
Centre Rigg said: “Alex and Luke are a few years above me, so I never got to play with them, but Tom was only the year above and was a team-mate when I was in my first year.
“Seeing how much he’s developed in the space of a year is a huge credit to the university. It shows the gap between the Premiership and BUCS is not as big as people might perceive it to be.”
Rigg feels he owes everything to university rugby in getting him to where he is today. “No matter what happens now, without Cardiff Met I wouldn’t have been able to even think about having this sort of opportunity,” he said.
“I came here after a gap year playing cricket in Australia and joined in my first year quite overweight. I thought I’d get the rugby back going and three years later I’ve got an opportunity to play rugby full-time. Without university rugby I don’t know what I’d do, I’m extremely grateful.”
Rigg had a superb final season at Cardiff Met and was an ever-present in Daniel Milton’s side that finished third in the regular season and went on to make it to the play-off semi-finals.
The 22-year-old scored 10 tries in 18 games and was rewarded for his efforts with a place in the BUCS Super Rugby Dream Team.
He said: “After Christmas I really started to gain more confidence. We got on a run and playing week in, week out helped massively. That team of the season is a nice cherry on top of the cake at the end of a good season.”
Rigg became known for his bulldozer-like hard lines in the midfield and hopes to replicate that in the Championship, but he is currently focusing on other parts of his game.
He added: “That’s my strength, picking those explosive lines but going forward I’m trying to develop the rest of my game; offloading, passing, kicking in order to make me an all-round player.”
Coventry finished a modest eighth last season but went on a terrific run in the Championship Cup which took them all the way to the final under the guidance of new director of rugby Alex Rae.
Rigg said: “There was a few things that attracted me to Coventry. I spoke to Alex Rae, who told me it’s like a fresh start as we’ve had a lot of younger players join the club and we’re all in a similar position.
“It’s very close to home as I grew up in Solihull, so I can live at home which makes such a difference in terms of travelling and settling in. It’s a club that is looking to grow with a younger squad. Everyone’s got a clean slate and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity.”