Wales Under 20 have beaten both England and Ireland so far during this Six Nations tournament, Wales Women impressed in their wins over England and Scotland while Wales Under 18 recorded a memorable 23-15 victory over England on Sunday and Lewsey believes some of the changes implemented at international pathway level are already starting to bear fruit.
“The overall intent is to develop well-rounded and multi-skilled players for the next level of regional and international rugby,” said Lewsey.
Wales Under 20’s 21-15 scalp of England last month was the first ever in that age group, Wales Women’s 13-0 victory against the old enemy was the first over England since 2009 and Sunday’s 23-15 Wales Under 18 win was the first at that age group since the 2007 win for a Wales team which included the likes of Dan Biggar, Justin Tipuric and Scott Andrews.
Lewsey believes there is a direct link between this upturn in fortunes and the employment earlier this year of former Wales internationals Chris Horsman and Geraint Lewis as full time international skills coaches (scrum and forwards respectively), along with former Wales A outside half Jason Strange on a part-time basis for attack. The trio work with all the international pathway teams and are also tasked with disseminating the skills curriculum to every level of the game, and Lewsey believes, that though the structure is still in its early days, we are already seeing the effects of their work.
“There has been a clear intention to take teams on both physically and skill-wise, and some of the unit performances have illustrated the direct influence of the skills coaches. As an example all three teams – Wales Under 20, Wales Under 18 and Wales Women have scrummaged well in recent weeks, which is thanks to Chris Horsman’s hard work, all three teams have shown instances of well drilled forward play and the attacking frameworks which Jason Strange has been working on have created exciting opportunities and well taken tries.”
The international skills coaches are responsible for delivering specialist technical skills coaching to every level of the pathway and advocating a common philosophy to develop well-rounded, bright and skilful players. They work closely with Warren Gatland’s senior national coaches and the National Academy Coaching Co-ordinator Allan Lewis to shape the national skills curriculum, which they deliver to all national academy and international pathway players on a regular basis. However whilst not in campaign, their focus is also to ensure a coordinated playing and coaching philosophy from national squad through to grassroots rugby by working with the school-club hub officers, the initiative revealed as part of Lewsey’s rugby department strategy launched in October.
“Let’s not get carried away,” added Lewsey. “This is only the start, as there is still a huge amount of improvement to make and realistically it will be a few years before the systematic effect is consistently and fully felt across the game in Wales. Although there have indeed been some pleasing performances we also now need to start work on more subjective aspects such as game management, leadership and decision-making, especially at Under 20 level ahead of the World Rugby Championship.”
“However, by disseminating best practice and formalising a model that allows for structured learning for players and coaches at all levels, we are attempting to create a more effective interface between the Elite and Community game which is essential if we are to support the long term needs of both.”
Wales Under 20 and Wales Women travel to Italy this weekend determined to end the Six Nations on a positive note while Wales Under 18 will now prepare for the FIRA-AER European Under 18 Championships at Easter.
