What I Got Wrong....

A follow-up to my Breakout XV in September

First of all, an apology for the recent lack of activity. June has been hectic in a positive way with some news I’m sure I’ll be able to share here soon. But, for now please accept my apology for the lack of posts and I’ll be putting that right throughout July.

Way back in September you might remember that I posted a breakout XV. I set myself the rules of having 5,000 minutes to ‘use’ from the 2024-25 season to select fifteen players who I felt were on the verge of exploding this season.

Squad: 15. Noah Heward (Bristol Bears), 14. George Hendy (Northampton Saints), 13. Will Wand (Leicester Tigers), 12. Sammy Arnold (Newcastle Red Bulls), 11. Alex Wills (Sale Sharks), 10. Will Haydon-Wood (Exeter Chiefs), 9. Caolan Englefield (Gloucester), 1. Tarek Haffar (Northampton Saints), 2. Ollie Fletcher (Newcastle Red Bull), 3. James Harper (Sale Sharks), 4. Tom Manz (Leicester Tigers), 5. Harry Wilson (Saracens), 6. Arthur Green (Bath), 7. Martin Moloney (Exeter Chiefs), 8. Fyn Brown (Northampton Saints)

The good news is that this team played 6,333 minutes in the Prem this season, 2,207 more than the previous season. Eight of the fifteen played more minutes this season than last. Let’s look at who I got right first of all.

Big Movers

The four big movers were Will Wand (844 more mins this season vs last), James Harper (603 more), George Hendy (531 more), and Noah Heward (515 more). The spike from Wand is the fourth largest jump among players who featured both this year and last. I said of Wand, “I think Wand will be a starting outside centre the season after this, maybe not with Leicester.” I was to conservative with this prediction as Wand turned into the Tigers’ starter this year. He scored 13 tries in 29 matches including a brace in the Premiership Rugby Cup Final in March. This built on his debut Tigers’ season where he scored seven in eleven matches after joining from Coventry. He was dominant for Coventry and is fully deserving of his time in the spotlight.

Heward scored more tries this year than in any previous season and made the most after limited opportunities before Christmas. Rich Lane is off next season though Tobi Wilson is joining from Ealing so don’t expect a similar increase for Heward next year. Hendy scored in bunches with his eighteen tries coming in just eleven game with four against Bristol in that massacre in May. He should and I’m sure will get more opportunities next year and an England call up is on the horizon. The same may also be true for Harper who managed to steal the starting role from Asher Opoku for vast stretches and even pushed his younger teammate across to the other side of the scrum.

Mid-Pack

Caolan Englefield (361mins more), Alex Wills (262mins), Ollie Fletcher (164mins), and Harry Wilson (43mins) added a marginal amount more playing time this season. Englefield and new Gloucester addition Mike Austin split time behind Tomos Williams when the Welshman was available but both had enough time in the driving seat. Williams is off but Dan Robson is coming in so expect more time share duties for the duo. Last year Wills split time between Sale and Caldy, this year he was with Sale the whole time and came away with six tries in 19 total appearances, a decent if not exceptional return for the winger. Fletcher spent most of the year in a deputy role which got him into 28 games in total. It’s all change at Newcastle though as three hookers are out the door but George McGuigan (who started the vast majority of games) is staying and George Turner is arriving. Things won’t get easier for Fletcher to get game time next year. Wilson didn’t make much of a step forward this year but he’s off to Exeter who are losing two locks which might open the door for more gametime.

Misses

Arthur Green (26 minutes less), Sammy Arnold (130mins), Tom Manz (140mins), Fyn Brown (157mins), Tarek Haffar (196mins), Will Haydon-Wood (201mins), and Martin Moloney (266mins) all saw their playing time go backwards.

Green was hammering on the door all season. He scored ten in fourteen matches but the departure of Alfie Barbeary to Saracens means Green should see a lot more action this year and would make this list in a heartbeat if I do it again for this season. Arnold missed chunks of the start of the season and though he was present for the second half he’s going to have a lot more competition next year as Newcastle flash the cash. Things didn’t work out for Manz this year and he once more split time between Nottingham and Welford Road. With both George Martin and Harry Wells off he has the potential to get more game time.

Fyn Brown was exceptional for Bedford Blues but saw very limited action for Northampton. I still believe he’s a great talent but he will be leaving the Saints this off-season. Haffar made good progress by turning out three times for Ireland A even if he minutes dropped. Nicky Smith is off next year and although Mako Vunipola is arriving, expect to see more of Haffar. Haydon-Wood was unlucky that Harvey Skinner was in the form of his life and started thirty of thirty matches. Haydon-Wood still appeared in 27 matches and if Skinner is injured or Exeter spread their resources around he’ll be in line to significantly increase his minutes. It never quite clicked for Moloney this year as he was trusted in the Premiership Rugby Cup but didn’t get any Prem minutes. He is off during the off-season to, as yet, unknown pastures but don’t be surprised if he’s picked up by an Irish province.

Hindsight

Will Wand turned out to be my best pick but there were some big opportunities I missed out on. Bryn Bradley of Harlequins saw a boatload of actions this year after featuring for just 23 minutes last year. He might well be in the hunt for a Welsh jersey this season. Charlie Bracken also put himself on the International radar with 656 additional minutes this time around. Finally, Will Hobson went from 14 minutes last season as he spent most of his time with London Scottish to 654 this year. Yet more evidence, if it were needed, that the Champ really is the Proving Ground.