The Player Pathway

WRU Talent Discovery 14-16 yrs (U16’s) Emerging Player Programme (EPP)  

In line with the WRU ‘One Wales /Cymru’n un’ strategy, with the key priority of accelerating the women and girl’s ecosystem and women and girl’s player registrations to 10,000, the WRU are launching its first Emerging Player Programme for U16’s girls.    

To achieve 10,000 registered women and girls, the focus is to provide every girl 6-18yrs the opportunity to engage, enjoy, and excel in Welsh rugby via educational settings and/or clubs/hubs in Wales.   

One key area of focus is player retention for U16’s and U18’s, meaning players are staying engaged and returning to play year on year.  To support and enhance the offering for U16’s players, we are implementing a localised WRU Emerging Player Programme for girls across Wales.   

The purpose of the EPP programme is to identify and explore potential by providing local, accessible high-quality training environments. The Girls’ WRU Emerging Player Programme across Wales will provide greater accessibility, enhance development and provide playing opportunities for female players, all within 1.5 hours driving distance from the players home or Girls Hub.  

The Emerging Player Programme for girls will be a pilot in 2025, delivered by WRU community teams, closely supported via WRU performance team and reviewed on completion of programme.  Delivered across 9 sites between January 2025 to April 2025, the pilot will run between 6 – 8 weeks of training and two combine playing opportunities in each area (East, West, North). The programme is free for any player and is developed to become the first step for representative rugby and talent discovery. 

The EPP is designed to engage 60 % of the U16’s registered players in each area (East, West, North Wales) aged 14 – 16. It is a development-led programme whose purpose is to develop player readiness for their next stage whether that be within the local Girls Hub, School, College or Player Development Centre (PDC) and provide opportunities for early identification within the pathway.  

Eligibility  

1. Age 14yrs – 16yrs (Year 10 & 11 in education) 

School within area (e.g. school is based in West Wales, Scarlets and Ospreys region). *If player lives or attends education across two borders of West/East/North Wales, the player’s school will become the basis for decision of location.  

 

The skill development centres are open to players of all abilities – from new to experienced players and will focus on improving core skills, fitness and positional work. The centres cover the age groups Under 12’s (year 6 and 7) and Under 14’s (year 8 and 9) Under 16’s (Year 10 and 11) and Under 18s (Colleges and 6th form)
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The Welsh Rugby Union held its first National Player Development Centre Skills Clinics at the National Centre of Excellence for the first intake of new players identified as prospective future internationals.

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<div class=”col-xs-12 news-social news-social-first”>More than 60 players attended two evening sessions as female players from the Player Development Centres (PDC’s) at Cardiff Met, Swansea University and RGC were put through their paces.</div>
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Each PDC has identified between 25 and 35 female players between the ages 18 and 23 as possible Wales stars of tomorrow to benefit from Academy-style support.

Wales legends Siwan Lillicrap, Elinor Snowsill, Caryl Thomas and Liza Burgess were joined by Celtic Challenge coaches, Catherine Nicholas McLaughlin, Gwalia Lightning head coach, and Ashley Beck, Brython Thunder head coach, to run the rule over the first players invited to the tailored sessions.

Players were specifically chosen to attend the session to train with each other and test each other in front of the select band of coaches.

The coaches got to see how players equipped themselves in gym sessions, skills sessions and rugby sessions at the WRU’s centre of excellence.

The evenings were designed for the best young talented players to work with the best Wales coaches from the WRU pathway, the PDCs, Celtic Challenge and National level.
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<img class=”wp-image-89082 size-full” src=”https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095.jpg” sizes=”(max-width: 3900px) 100vw, 3900px” srcset=”https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095.jpg 3900w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-300×194.jpg 300w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-1024×661.jpg 1024w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-768×495.jpg 768w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-999×644.jpg 999w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-450×290.jpg 450w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-656×423.jpg 656w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-160×103.jpg 160w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-849×548.jpg 849w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-659×425.jpg 659w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-1550×1000.jpg 1550w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-374×241.jpg 374w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-606×391.jpg 606w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-378×244.jpg 378w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-392×253.jpg 392w, https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/wales/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11111241/CDF_181124_GE_Womens_PDC_Skills_Clinic_095-397×256.jpg 397w” alt=”Liza Burgess” width=”3900″ height=”2516″ aria-describedby=”caption-attachment-89082″ />
<p id=”caption-attachment-89082″ class=”wp-caption-text”>Liza Burgess at the Wales Women PDC Development Programme Skills Clinic</p>

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Coaches present offered player development and skills advice to all the players so they could use when they returned to the PDC’s.

WRU staff attended the sessions with S&amp;C, medical and analysis staff to support throughout both evenings.

Siwan Lillicrap, for Wales captain and WRU PDC’s Lead and Pathway Manager, said: “This was a real opportunity to see the first intake of players to benefit from the PDC’s we have introduced in Cardiff, Swansea and Colwyn Bay.

“These players were identified as real talents, and these sessions allows us to track high performing pathway players and for them to train with each other and therefore test each other.

“It also allowed coaches from national set up and the WRU pathway to work with these talented players and highlights the alignment and collaboration we now have at our disposal for players who have ambitions to play Celtic Challenge rugby and to play professional rugby and ultimately play for Wales.”

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The Celtic Challenge is the first ever Women’s domestic Cross-Border Competition. 6 Teams compete over 10 rounds, with the Team holding highest table standing at the end of the season being crowned Champions.

The League is designed to develop and inspire World Class performance through elite competition, it is the highest form of domestic rugby across the 3 nations and acts as a pathway for current and future International Talent.

The League takes place across Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, with 2 teams playing out of each Nation. The League will run from December until March with each team playing 10 games; 5 home and 5 away.

Two new Welsh teams were introduced to the cross-border competition in the 2023/24 season.

Developed in collaboration with current players, the brands for the two WRU owned franchises are inspired by ‘Brython’, the first Celtic language, and ‘Gwalia’, the original name for Wales, and will kick off the expanded competition in January 2024.

Brython Thunder will wear red and black, be based at Parc y Scarlets and play their home games out of both Parc y Scarlets and Stadiwm CSM in Colwyn Bay.

Gwalia Lightning will wear Blue and Yellow, be based and train at Cardiff Metropolitan University and play their home games at Cardiff Arms Park.