Cowling keen to see youth development

By Ben Wiltshire

Exeter Chiefs team manager Robin Cowling believes that if the Premiership club's Academy players are to develop, it is essential that they get more game time at RFU Championship level rugby.

Forwards Joel Conlon and John Stevens are the latest youngsters to join Championship outfit Cornish Pirates for the season and Cowling has the upmost faith that the pair will develop and learn with the Pirates.

He said: “It’s a huge part of the young lads’ development to actually play, if we hang on to them here the whole time they won’t get game time, so it’s a vital part to us that they actually develop by playing competitive rugby.

“If a player can’t make a real stand out performance at Championship level, they’re not going to cope at Premier level. The relationship between ourselves and Championship sides, like the Pirates and Plymouth Albion, is really important to us because they trust the quality of player they are getting and obviously they have a chance to see them in ‘A’ games before they go as well.

“We trust clubs to deliver good coaching sessions and conditioning while they’re there, so it’s a really important relationship between the two of us.

“It does seem a bit one sided that as soon as they’re good we have them back like the lads last year, but equally they get a player that is going to be of quality by the end. Therefore it’s all part of the players development which is vital to us.”

Academy Manager Cowling believes that it is extremely important for the whole club that the youngsters are coming through and has expressed that front-row players need even more time to develop into Premiership players.

He said: “It just gives us that little bit longer to allow them to develop and the Championship is a really important level for their career. As far as front row players they probably need to start at a slightly lower level.”

“Unfortunately we don’t have any level three sides in the area, but we do have several level four sides like Taunton, Redruth, Cornish All Blacks and Exmouth, but we have to put a special case to the RFU to get them to play at that level. We have to get dispensation to get them to play more than two leagues below us.

“The whole club ethos is based a lot around our academy, they’re brought up the way we want them and it’s a huge part of our local culture to produce our own players.

“The academy cost quite a lot of money to run and it’s vital we produce our own players, so I think it’s a major stepping stone in the clubs development as well as the individual player.”

With Conlon already playing a predominant role in England’s IRB Junior World Championship triumph in June, and Stevens being the youngest son of former England and British and Irish Lions prop Brian ‘Stack’ Stevens, the two players already have masses of potential from which to exploit.

Following the signings of Stevens and Conlon, Cornish Pirates Head Coach Ian Davies added: “Building on the good relations we have built with Exeter Chiefs, we now welcome Joel and John to the Pirates. The two lads will be looking to emulate Sam Hill, Dave Ewers, Jack Yeandle and Jack Nowell, all of whom gained game time with us and are all now pushing for Premiership spots with the Chiefs.”