Members of the Welsh Rugby Union’s Youth Board met their senior counterparts for the first time at a Natwest Rugbyforce festival at the Carmarthen Quins junior ground in Abergwili at the weekend.
The Youth Board is the brainchild of Phillips, who formed it during his first weeks in office less than a year ago, and it has met on three occasions to date and proposed a variety of ideas for improving participation in Wales’ national game at youth and junior level and for retaining players in rugby at specific ages.
Carmarthen Quins’ rugby festival saw teams from every age group in the club – in buoyant mood after witnessing the recent Team GB Rugby 7s heroics of ‘old-boy’ James Davies in Rio – turning out to show their skills in front of the special guests, which also included WRU head of participation, and former Wales skipper and Grand Slam star, Ryan Jones.
“The Youth Board are refreshing in their honesty, they give a straight answer to a straight question and are not afraid to give you their opinion,” said Phillips, who says the ‘meeting of minds’ is one which will become a regular occurrence for the Union.
“They are an important asset for us and Ryan Jones has already made sound use of their expertise as he fine tunes his strategy for improving participation in the game at all levels.”
Jones has been ever present at Youth Board meetings and he also welcomes the dialogue on display between the youngsters and the senior Board members.
“The biggest challenge we have out there is choice, we know that there are many things competing for an individual’s time, from the Playstation to the TV and whatever the latest online trends are so we need to make sure our offering is enticing,” said Jones.
“We have done extensive research and we have talked to many people about the game in traditional forums but this Youth Board provides something different, a sounding board for ideas and their contribution so far has been excellent.”
Team GB star Davies played much of his junior rugby at Carmarthen Quins and one man who knows him well is current Quins coach Steff Thomas, who was also enjoying the days’ festivities.
“James has never been any different – you have to respect his tenacity,” said Thomas, who was also a team manager to his Olympic namesake at WRU international sevens level. “I can remember coaches telling him he should be a hooker, because of his body shape, or telling him to follow his brother and go and play in the centre, but he always wanted to be a flanker and has stuck to his guns.
“Look at where that has got him, an Olympic silver medal, he’s an inspiration to many people and he deserves all the success that comes his way because of the hard work he has put in.”
The Olympic sevens competition was a hot topic for Board and Youth Board members as they discussed, with Jones, the ways in which more people could be encouraged to play the game at a variety of levels in Wales.
One Youth board member who took a keen interest in the Olympics is Dan Evans, who plays club rugby for Whitland, another former club of both Jonathan and James Davies.
“Both James and Jonathan came through the junior system at Whitland and it is through watching them and the likes of Mike Phillips at senior level that youngsters are inspired to follow,” said Evans.
“I wanted to be a part of the Youth Board because it is an opportunity to make a difference and improve a sport which has been good to me. Meeting the senior Board today has been a great experience, it was fascinating to hear their views and talk about the problems they have to work through on a day to day basis, but it is rewarding to know that they are listening keenly to our views.
“Both Martyn and Ryan have been extremely enthusiastic about using the Youth Board as they make decisions about the future of the game and the challenge for us know is to make best use of the opportunity we have been given and the access and influence which is on offer.”
