Academy News

RGC Performance Manager Josh Leach explains the Academy structure and some of the changes for the new group of players for the season ahead

“Last season after we came back from the extended break in rugby due to covid, we took a larger group into senior academy so we could work with all players”

“We looked at the set-up and the pros and cons of having a bigger pool of players and have now restructured the academy to align it with our key objectives, and will now have 2 groups in senior Academy which are split into

• Players that can have the potential for the professional game and National pathway teams (Gold)

• Players who have the potential to represent RGC in the Premiership and be our future – (Silver)

The Gold group will now train for 4 days and we have also increased the time we put into the Silver Premiership group who now will have 3 training nights a week.

The majority of this group will be aligned with Bangor University, as they continue to build on the success of last season.  And a number of pre-season friendlies have been lined up for both the Academy and University sides in August and September.

Last year we identified the lack of game time at high-level senior academy players had access to, so we are looking at senior academy fixtures at certain windows through the year which will have a positive impact on the group.

Academy-wise - Saul Nelson came in at the start of the year, as Head Coach, and in that short time frame has made big strides in preparing the 18s into an RGC full-time program.  It has been challenging for some, but the progress is clear and we are all looking forward to the season ahead with this group of players.

Upcoming Senior Academy and Bangor University Fixtures (locations tbc)

24th August

Senior Academy XV v Cardiff Met      

Bangor Uni v Cardiff Met

14th September – Senior Academy v Cardiff University

21^st September – Senior Academy XV v Swansea University

28th September - Bangor University v Denbigh