JOSH BELLAMY
HARLEQUINS FLY-HALF
Josh Bellamy is fortunate to be able to pick the brains of England star Marcus Smith at Harlequins and is eager to make the most of any opportunity he gets.
The 18-year-old flyhalf, who recently transitioned from full-back is in Mark Mapletoft’s England U20s squad for the Six Nations. Bellamy impressed off the bench against Italy, coming on at half-time to score a try in a 36-11 away win before kicking five points in the 28-7 triumph over Wales at the Rec.
Bellamy seems to be thriving in the age grade setup.
Bellamy told The Rugby Paper: “I haven’t actually played against Rory before but have known he’s been around and the opposition 10 for a while now. A good bit of competitive edge always makes anyone better.
“Making my debut was a landmark I wanted to hit and it was a great feeling getting on. Luckily I got a half as well which was nice, the try was pretty cool but was just a walk in in the end, more just set up by everyone else through some great play. It was a great win for the boys getting five points against a very decent Italy team and then to follow it with a win over Wales was great as well.
“We keep getting better and better in training, boys are very professional in what they do and there’s a real edge in the group at the moment.”
Having progressed through the Harlequins academy, Bellamy is enjoying learning off Quins talisman Smith and was taken back by the British and Irish Lion’s jovial nature.
He added: “The environment at Quins is good, very relaxed, not super strenuous hours but very much down to business when it comes to it. I’ve been getting involved in training a lot more which is good, although I’m training at 15 most of the time because there are loads of 10s but it’s still good learning off people like Marcus Smith who teach you a couple tricks of the trade.
“You see Marcus on TV and he’s very serious and animated but he’s actually a very chilled out nice guy. You can have a joke with him and he’s very welcoming. He’s not as serious as I expected him to be.”
Bellamy studied at Trinity School in Croydon, whose alumni includes former England players George Chuter and Alex Codling, as well as Bristol Bears flyer Gabriel Ibitoye. He enjoyed spearheading Trinity to back-to-back finals in the Schools Cup at Twickenham. “We lost a couple of years due to Covid but when we got back to it we were flying,” said Bellamy. “We had a good year above and my year won the final of the NatWest Schools Cup in U17s and then got to the final and lost to Oakham in U18s last year which was gutting but it was still pretty impressive for the school to reach the final two years in a row.”
Short-term, Bellamy says it’s about taking his chances when they come and being patient waiting for opportunities both internationally and at his club. He added: “When I get the chance in U20s to get on I want to keep performing and showing what I’m about as much as I can. It puts me in the best environment at Quins, so short-term it’s about doing as much as I can do when given chances.”