It has been a full on season so far with all of the players undergoing intense training sessions and festivals at Worthing and Surrey Sports Park every week on top of school and club commitments.

All of the players were scouted and trialed to obtain their place with the aim of improving themselves as players and hopefully with the ultimate goal of playing elite level rugby.

With this part of their development now complete four players have been released and will now have the honour to represent Sussex playing neighbouring county squads in the coming months until the end of the season. In addition to these players three other players have been selected for the county giving us 7 players representing Sussex from our club. A massive achievement. These players are Theo Summers, Archie Fox, Riley Marshall and Jackson Bowles who will be joined by Lucas Papagna, Miguel Lopez and Ethan Coombe.

The four remaining players who have survived the cut from an estimated 210 players across Sussex and Surrey will go on and play for the Harlequins U16 team in fixtures against Bath, Saracens, London Irish and Bristol in the PDG league. This is a giant step in the next phase in their development. These players are Jaryd Swanepoel, Oscar Males, Oscar Byrne and
Toby de la Mare.

The Under 16 Coaches had this to say:

“As coaches we are very proud of all our players especially the eight who have represented our club so well within the Harlequins set up. Many have been with our team since they were 5 years old. It shows that the hard work put in on and off the pitch really does pay off and just to be able to have to recognition from one of the best Premier League clubs in the country for so many of our team is a privilege. In addition many of our young athletes have been awarded scholarships to prestige schools such as Gordons, Hartpury, Brighton and Eastbourne Colleges, where they will continue advancing their skills along with studying A levels. We wish all eleven players good luck in their upcoming fixtures for Sussex and Harlequins.’

Meanwhile at club level the under 16’s continue to perform having won all five of their Sussex league matches so far they are hoping to continue their winning streak for the rest of the season before capping off with a tour to north Wales to face opposition from Wales and Ireland.

Nick Chambers Director of Rugby:

As a club we are extremely proud of how well these young players have progressed. We would like to express our thanks to the coaches and their parents for the support shown in helping the players on this exciting journey.

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