Biggest gathering of pathway players returns in 2023
This week has seen the return of the RFU’s Academy Festival, where approximately 1,200 under 17 and under 18 men’s and women’s players from England’s Regional Academies and England Rugby’s Centres of Excellence have participated at Malvern College.
The Festival, which is running from Monday, 7 August to Friday, 11 August, is the biggest gathering of England’s rugby pathway players and celebrates the country’s development system.
Following the success of last year’s festival, when female players from England Rugby's Centres of Excellence were involved for the first time, women and girls return in even greater numbers in 2023, with all twelve Centres involved with squads of 25-30 players.
The Festival has also been played under the new legal tackle height rules, which have been lowered across the community game to below the base of the sternum, changes intended to minimise the number of tackles where players’ heads are in the same ‘air space’ and reduce head injury and the risk of concussion.
Head of performance pathways and programmes, Don Barrell, said: “The Festival celebrates the invaluable learning opportunities for young players who are coming through their regional academies and the England Rugby Pathways Programme.
“The Festival is our biggest gathering of pathway players and is a wonderful opportunity for them to develop. It’s also been great to see the young women and men playing expansive, fast-paced rugby this week under the new legal tackle height rules.
“As ever, a big thanks goes to Malvern College for hosting the Festival. It’s a wonderful event that they help deliver for our country’s young players.”
