The Breakout XV
Who's going to make a major breakthrough this year?
A lot of people are doing articles like this. So I thought I’d make this a little different. I am going to pick my XV for this season, but I’m going to pick it according to these rules:
I have 5,000 minutes played in the Premiership last year to ‘spend’. That ends up being 333 minutes per player but of course I could ‘spend’ 1,000 minutes on a single player then have more players with very few minutes played.
They have to have played at least one minute last season in the Premiership
If someone had previously ‘broken out’ I’m not going to include them in this list even if they had a down year in 2024-25 due to injury. That is going to be based on gut feel so you may well disagree.
Finally, position is notoriously fiddly. The person has to have played that position at least once for me to put them there. I.e. looseheads are looseheads and centres have featured there at least once.
Fullback: Noah Heward (24, Bristol Bears) - Cost: 112mins (Left: 4,888mins)
Heward emerged from the Warriors fiasco straight into the arms of Bristol. He had a good season in 2023-24 but last year Rich Lane, Kalaveti Ravouvou, and Gabriel Ibitoye were immovable. That back three hasn’t got any easier to break into with the arrival of Louis Rees-Zammit, but I think Heward will get more chances after playing well in short bursts last time out.
Winger: George Hendy (22, Northampton Saints) - Cost: 529mins (Left: 4,359mins)
I’ve spent big on someone who I think is inline for a true breakout season. Tom Seabrook has left for Worcester which reduces the back three competition somewhat. There’s also the feeling that Hendy has been consistently good for a while and for me he’s on the cusp of crossing into the England competition with ten plus tries this year. He could easily double his minutes.
Centre: Will Wand (23, Leicester Tigers) - Cost: 174mins (Left: 4,185mins)
I am very high on Wand this year. He scored seven in 12 matches and has already scored a try in his one game this season. He can play on the wing but it seems like his long-term future is at outside centre, and that was where he impressed with Coventry. Last year he was behind both Dan Kelly and Solomone Kata. Kelly is off, Kata is not but I’d expect to see Wand press his case more heavily especially in the early season. I think Wand will be a starting outside centre the season after this, maybe not with Leicester.
Centre: Sammy Arnold (29, Newcastle Red Bull) - Cost: 787mins (Left: 3,398mins)
Arnold was Newcastle’s starting 12 last season, however he didn’t really breakthrough to the wider audience. Playing in the centres for Newcastle last year was a thankless task but Arnold did a good job of limiting mistakes and being stout in defence. He didn’t really get much chance to show his attacking game either distributing or carrying. There’s a good chance that changes this year with more attacking pieces around him, so look for more game time and more overall impact.
Winger: Alex Wills (21, Sale Sharks) - Cost: 100mins (Left: 3,298mins)
I think Wills is perhaps a season behind Wand in his development and this year we will see an increased number of Premiership involvements and at least a tripling of his minutes played. He started six of seven Premiership Rugby Cup matches last year and scored three tries while also getting a small amount of game time with Caldy in the Championship. I’d expect to see an increased number of tries coming this time around as he builds towards a starting spot in 2026.
Fly-Half: Will Haydon-Wood (24, Exeter Chiefs) - Cost: 374mins (Left: 2,924mins)
Haydon-Wood has had a difficult career and achieved a lot by 24. He was a starter for Newcastle back in 2021-22 but then moved to Wasps for four games before they went under. He then moved to Massy in Pro D2 and became a starter but they were a bad team and were relegated. He moved back to England with the Chiefs and he’s been there ever since. Harvey Skinner has probably got the fly-half role sewn up but Haydon-Wood is first inline for back-up duties and can also cover fullback, as he did during the first match of the 2025-26 Premiership Rugby Cup.
Scrum-Half: Caolan Englefield (25, Gloucester) - Cost: 210mins (Left: 2,714mins)
Englefield made the back-up role to Tomos Williams his own last season, he featured in 15 matches. That was behind only Ben Youngs and Kieran Marmion among the Premiership back-ups. Gloucester have added Mike Austin, who I am very excited to see, but Englefield has done nothing to suggest he’s going to be displaced and started the first Premiership Rugby Cup game of the season. Williams played every game last season but expect that workload to decrease a little bit with thanks to his Lions’ tourism and Welsh duties.
Loosehead Prop: Tarek Haffar (24, Leicester Tigers) - Cost: 362mins (Left: 2,352mins)
Haffar has moved to Leicester Tigers, that won’t make Northampton Saints’ fans happy, but it should clear the way for plenty more game time. The Tigers have let James Whitcombe (80mins in Prem) and James Cronin (240mins) leave which should allow Haffar to slot into the back-up role behind Nicky Smith. Last year, the Tigers managed to keep their team together week after week after week. If they do the same thing this year then that might limit Haffar’s time but I’d expect him to easily feature in 10 Premiership games and a bunch in Europe as well.
Hooker: Ollie Fletcher (23, Newcastle Red Bull) - Cost: 294mins (Left: 2,058mins)
Fletcher is someone I already picked out as a star of tomorrow. However, his path to a lot of game time has opened out with Jamie Blamire off to Leicester Tigers. The Red Bulls have brought in George McGuigan and Hame Faiva but it’s hard to see either of those two really pushing for much starting time if Fletcher emerges from the off-season even better than he was last year.
Tighthead Prop: James Harper (23, Sale Sharks) - Cost: 209mins (Left: 1,849mins)
Harper has threatened to breakout for a few seasons now. Last year, he made two Premiership starts and one in the Champions Cup. That was a step down from the previous year when he had extended playing time at the end, starting every Premiership game from round 13 onwards. At present, Harper is behind Asher Opoku but Opoku can also play on the loosehead and might be needed to cover there. Regardless, if Harper can stake his claim as the pre-eminent back-up then he will easily surpass his game time of last year.
Lock: Tom Manz (24, Leicester Tigers) - Cost: 140mins (Left: 1,709mins)
Second row at Leicester is probably the hardest position to break into in the Premiership. Cameron Henderson is still young and has nailed down one starting spot while Ollie Chessum and Harry Wells job shared the other with George Martin injured for most of the season. This season, George Martin will presumably be inline for more game time and Lewis Chessum is returning from a spell in Japan and ready to stake his claim. All of that might make Manz and unlikely selection for this breakout XV but he had a really good start to the season with Nottingham and was then brought into the fold with Leicester. He ended up back with Nottingham at the end of the season but this was undoubtedly a season of growth for him.
Lock: Harry Wilson (28, Saracens) - Cost: 199mins (Left: 1,510mins)
Wilson has already started two matches in the Premiership Rugby Cup this season, one in the second row and one at back row. That gives a glimpse of how Sarries may use him this year. During his Championship years he featured heavily in the back row, and played a lot at eight for Doncaster. Since moving to Saracens he has predominantly been used as a lock but now looks to be branching out. Saracens are well stacked at both positions but Wilson could well push for more game time this season.
Flanker: Arthur Green (21, Bath) - Cost: 210mins (Left: 1,300mins)
Late season appearances, especially for a side which still had something to play for, are a good sign. Green was trusted to start in seven of the nine Premiership Rugby Cup matches and scored four tries. He also spent time with Doncaster over three different stints and his reward was three starts in the last five Premiership matches and four appearances overall. He capped that with a try against Saracens. Bath haven’t lost anyone from their back row this off-season but nor have they added anyone so expect Green to stay with Bath this year and push for yet more game time.
Flanker: Martin Moloney (24, Exeter Chiefs) - Cost: 266mins (Left: 1,034mins)
It’s a similar story to Green, coupled with the fact that Jacques Vermeulen is off to Sale Sharks which opens up the Chiefs’ back row. Vermeulen’s departure might even see Moloney sweep straight into the starting six role. At the end of the season he was involved in six matches, three he started and three he was a sub, replacing Vermuelen each time. Moloney has Leinster caps and Ireland U20s appearances behind him and appears finally to be in a spot to become a Premiership starter.
Number Eight: Fyn Brown (22, Northampton Saints) - Cost: 160mins (Left: 874mins)
There are very few number eights who fit the requirements of this game. But Brown may well be one. He played 1,400mins last season but that was spread across two teams (Bedford Blues & Northampton Saints) and four competitions (Premiership, Premiership Rugby Cup, Championship, and Champions Cup). That variety will have served him well as he now looks to follow Henry Pollock’s lead and establish himself as a first team regular. The departure of Juarno Augustus should make that job a little easier however new arrival Callum Chick did bag a hat-trick on his debut. All in all, it might not be this year but look out for Brown over the next couple of seasons.
**I have a book out on 29th January 2026 - Attacking the Space is the book you need if you love rugby or love someone who loves rugby. You can pre-order by visiting this link:
https://geni.us/AttackingTheSpace
If you need a little shove, Bernard Jackman said it was; “Invaluable - a brilliant resource for anyone interested in rugby”**