Four Chiefs Academy Players Selected in England U18s Development Camp

Four Exeter Chiefs Academy players - Ollie Batson, George Newman, Riley Raikes and Harry Woodman - have been named in Camp One of the England U18 Development Camps.

Head coach Jonathan Pendlebury and assistant coach Will Parkin have confirmed their squads for the U18 Men’s Development Camp this week.

Hosted at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, the Men’s Pathway side converge on Berkshire in two groups for separate two-and-a-half-day camps starting on Wednesday (30th) and concluding this forthcoming Sunday (2nd).

This week’s training schedule follows on from September’s front five and specialist back meetings and sets out to fortify key pathway development principles in the first U18 camp since the side toured South Africa this summer. With a mostly replenished group, Pendlebury and his staff look to implement on-field principles, position-specific rugby preparation and detailed strategy that layers on top of the experiences the players gain through their club, school and college fixtures and academy sessions.

Since the U18 Men’s last outing in the 2024 International Series, 21 players have graduated the U18 programme and into the 2024/25 U20 Men’s Elite Player Squad: Aiden Ainsworth-Cave, Tom Dye and Jonny Weimann of Northampton Saints, Sale Sharks’ Ollie Davies, Seb Kelly, Jack Lightbown and Toby Wilson, Nick Lilley and Josh Mann (both Exeter Chiefs), Lucas Friday, Frank McMillan, Jimmy Staples and Ollie Streeter (all Harlequins), Saracens’ Angus Hall, Jack Bracken and Charlie West, Bath Rugby’s Charlie Griffin, Tyler Offiah, Connor Treacey and Kepu Tuipulotu, and George Pearson of Leicester Tigers.

60 players in total have been invited to camp, with 13 of those having picked up U18 caps already this year throughout the U18 Six Nations Festival or the aforementioned International Series in South Africa. Nine further uncapped U18 players have partaken in the 2024 U17 spring camp and fixture at Hartpury College.

The opening autumn camp sees the rugby schedule complemented with strength and conditioning training with sports psychology education. The U18 Men return to Bisham Abbey next month for a four-day Development Camp before a break for the Premiership Rugby U18 Academy League.

Jonathan Pendlebury said: “This week marks the first step of hopefully many more on the Men’s Pathway journey for these players. It’s an exciting time of year, with many performances in school and academy settings that have commanded attention. We want to reward and recognise these players by affording them the opportunity to train with other players of similar ability.

“Being the first U18 camp this term, we’re encouraging the team to demonstrate self-awareness and organisation – that can be showing character on and off-the-field, showing leadership qualities but most importantly, taking ownership of their development.

“Our mantra of ‘getting better and better and better’ is pertinent with it being the first taste of camp life for the team this year. We will use this as a point of reference to measure progress throughout the campaign to ensure the players grow into their next challenge on the pathway.”

England U18 Men October Development Camp - Group 1 (includes academy and school)

Diamond Ayiehfor (Leicester Tigers, Warwick School) *

Jonno Balding (Gloucester Rugby, Radley College) *

Ollie Batson (Exeter Chiefs, Exeter School)

Will Bennett (Sale Sharks, Sedbergh School)

Matthew Branch-Holland (Saracens, Ravens Wood) *

Finn Cunnison (Harlequins, Bishop Wand School)

Junior Denny (Gloucester Rugby, Bloxham School)

George Dufty (Gloucester Rugby, Bromsgrove School)

Ajay Edwards (Newcastle Falcons, Durham School)

Tomos Evans (Gloucester Rugby, Hartpury College)

Joshua Field (Leicester Tigers, Warwick School)

Kealan Freeman-Price (Gloucester Rugby, Hartpury College)

Jerold Gorleku (Harlequins, Bishop Wand School)

Ollie Harris (Bristol Bears, Clifton College)

Dylan Hodkinson (Sale Sharks, Wirral Grammar School)

Harry Ingram (Gloucester Rugby, Hartpury College)

Finn Keylock (Saracens, Bishop Wand School) *

Will Knight (Gloucester Rugby, Hartpury College)

Henry Laidlow (Harlequins, Trinity School)

Bruno Lamb (Bristol Bears, SGS College)

Charlie Lawson (Newcastle Falcons, Gosforth Academy)

Fergus Mainey (Sale Sharks, Sedbergh)

George Newman (Exeter Chiefs, Truro College) *

Alan Poku (Saracens, Bishop Wand School)

Riley Raikes (Exeter Chiefs, Truro College)

Oscar Talbot (Leicester Tigers, Rugby School)

Luca Teal (Yorkshire Academy, Woodhouse Grove)

James Townsend (Leicester Tigers, Warwick School)

Harry Woodman (Exeter Chiefs, Exeter College)

Harry Wright (Gloucester Rugby, Stourport High School & Sixth Form College)

*denotes a player previously capped at U18 level for England