Lloyd working hard to make sure future is a lot brighter for Welsh rugby
THE focus of the average Welsh rugby fan will understandably be on Wales’ summer tour of Australia over the next few weeks, but events in South Africa are arguably just as important.
Welsh rugby’s current selling point is its focus on the game’s future, with a huge emphasis on getting the pathways and the academies working to optimum levels.
One man who is central in this is former Ospreys lock Andy Lloyd, who is the Welsh Rugby Union’s talent and pathways manager.
Lloyd is one of Welsh rugby’s unsung heroes and is well respected within the game.
Presently he is out in South Africa fulfilling his role as team manager of Wales U20s who open their World Rugby U20 Championship campaign against New Zealand in Cape Town today.
Lloyd is an integral part of Welsh rugby’s pathway, ensuring the right players are being developed with the aim of pushing them through into Warren Gatland’s senior side.
“I help look after the pathway from U16s and the academies upwards,” he tells us.
“I’m hands on with the U20s as team manager but help oversee the U18s with Richie Pugh.
“A big part of my role is depth charting in Wales and making sure we get really good opinions on the top boys and some of the boys we’ve got coming through.
“The reason I team manage the 20s is from January to July we are with them most of the time so it’s pretty intense.
“We form really strong opinions on them within the group and then with John Alder I look after the academies.
“We’ve recently put the new academy licence in. That falls under my remit as does how we police it going forward.”
Welsh rugby is currently going through a rough patch with the senior men’s national side recently finishing the Six Nations with the Wooden Spoon and all four professional sides struggling.
The only way out of its current predicament is to invest heavily in young talent with a greater focus on ensuring the pathway produces players of quality.
WRU performance director Huw Bevan has set out the target of producing “more and better players” and Lloyd will play a big role in that.
“It starts from U15s with the
Emerging Player Programme (EPP),” said Lloyd.
“Not one person can identify everyone so there is a filter process.
“We are making sure we are all looking for the same people, the same attributes and from top to bottom from Gats in the first team to all the regions we all need to understand what we are looking for in a player.
“Basically as the boys get older they go through different stages and by the time they get through U20s we have most of the boys in the academies, but we are still looking in universities and Super Rygbi Cymru.