grobyman wrote:
As much as it grieves me particularly with their recent relocation, Wasps are looking very serious contenders, with their new found wealth and financial support and the depth of their squad, I wouldn't be surprised to see them as the new 'Saracens' over the next few years. They played exceptionally well over the last two weeks and Bath did well to make the score look half respectable at half time. However, in both of these cases there are very few 'home ' academy products in either team.
Yeah - Wasps have gone signing crazy, and even where they have young English players on their books the majority have come from elsewhere (Bristow, McIntyre, Robson, Lozowski, etc.). However, they do still have the likes of Launchbury (24 yrs, 11 apps this season), Jones (24 yrs, 13 apps this season), Daly (23 yrs, 17 apps this season) and Christian Wade (24 yrs, 9 apps this season).
Bath went the same way (Ford, Watson, Auterac, Thomas, etc) but have produced and played the likes of Dunn (23 yrs, 7 apps this season), Ewels (20 yrs, 12 apps this season), Ellis (21 yrs, 8 apps this season), Cook (24 yrs, 14 apps this season), Devoto (22 yrs, 9 apps this season) and Clark (20 yrs, 5 apps this season).
In the same category of young academy-produced players Tigers have Balmain (24 yrs, 17 apps this season), Thacker (21 yrs, 12 apps this season) and Tuilagi (24 yrs, 4 apps this season). The likes of Catchpole, Brugnara and Pasquali have featured as well, but very infrequently - 8 appearances between the three of them.