Who’ll be next ace to ‘do a Niniashvili’?
Is it me or is there suddenly a raft of brilliant young players everywhere you look, fearless kids who are lighting the game up and bringing a new energy and daring to proceedings? Of course there is always a steady flow of young talent into the game but that feeling of being unusually awash probably stems from the fact that this summer, for the third year in a row, the Junior World Cup has been cancelled due to the lingering effects of Covid worldwide.
The U20 World Cup is the great showcase for the modern game and to my mind, one of the untarnished gems in the World Rugby calendar. It’s where the observant first spot the superstars of the future, a couple of years before the mainstream audience, and it’s where many of those concerned, especially away from the more regimented home nations, first get a tap on the shoulder by a big club with an invitation to talk contracts.
For three years though that massive televised shop window has been lacking although its heartening to hear confimation this week that plans for a “Summer Six Nations” with the addition of South Africa and Georgia to be staged in Italy – Treviso and Verona – have come to fruition. The tournament will be held between June 24 and July 12 and it’s hard to think of a better way to spend a couple of weeks for the itinerant rugby tragic.
There’s been a gaping hole in the schedule these last three years though. Hence the brilliance of Davit Niniashvili, my man of the match in the
European Challenge Cup final last week despite his bodged first-half try. Niniashvili may have come as some surprise although frankly he has been lighting it up for Lyon for 12 months or more.
Still only 19, he never got to play in a Junior World Cup although two years ago, as a 17-year-old, he did star for Georgia U18 in a Rugby Europe tournament. The next moment it seems he is dumping Eben Etzebeth with the tackle of the season and running Toulon ragged with his trickery and pace. The strike runner and X-factor back Georgian rugby has been praying for.
La Rochelle's young warrior on the openside Mattias Hadad, a standout against
Leinster in Marseilles, is another who comes into that category. Appearing a year young at the 2019 Junior World Cup, the last to be contested, he did play a role in France's second title on the bounce, but would have garnered even more publicity and profile had he skippered the side to a hattrick of titles the following year, as was the master plan.
England's Henry Arundell has taken the world by storm this season with a succession of wonder tries but if the rugby world hadn’t been so topsy-turvy he would probably have been a hot shot on everybody’s lips at the 2021 Junior World Cup.
Ditto Leicester’s Jack van Poortvliet who I still reckon might be England’s longer term successor to Ben Youngs at scrum-half. The Leicester man has missed out on at least two Junior World Cups, both of which England could potentially have won, although he did have the consolation of leading England to a Six Nations Grand Slam last summer.
Italy have a veritable squadra of hungry young tyros who were denied an airing at the cancelled Junior World Cups but, unless I am very much mistaken, are set to make a big impact at Test level and raise Italy’s stock.
You could parachute this year’s front row of Riccardo Genovesi, Lucca Rizzoli and hooker Lepo Frangini straight into the senior squad next season without a moment's hesitation – athletic young monsters with plenty of attitude and mongrel – although I suspect Kieran Crowley will bed them in with a year of senior club rugby first.
Italy are also building a good stable of backrowers but expect both Giacomo Ferrari – the charismatic leader of this year’s U20 team – and the classy Ross Vintcent to be knocking on the door come RWC2023.
Italy would have been a fastimproving team to avoid over the last three JWCs and would have claimed a couple of big scalps at the very least.
The really tantalising one is Portugal who, with the Bayonne express himself Patrick Lasgiquet pulling the strings as coach, have unearthed a once-in-a-generation set of young backs. Three years ago they were poised to move from the U20 Trophy tournament, which I am sure they would have won in 2020, to the main tournament where they would have turned a few heads.
Jeronimo Portela, Rodrigo Marta, Rafael Storti and Simao Bento have taken like ducks to water to senior rugby and have been at the heart of a Portuguese effort that could yet see them qualify for RWC2023.
And as ever the French scouts have been busy with Storti already signed up by Stade Francais and Bentoheading to Mont de Marsan who hope to playing Top 14 rugby next season. Marta is also being heavily courted by French giants but has yet to commit.
Dont be surprised if one of them is “doing a Niniashvilli” in some high profile final over the next couple of seasons.