There is still one final round of the 2024 Six Nations remaining but a striking trend is already apparent. Look across all the teams and a new wave of impressive young talent is announcing itself. While there will always be a place for cauliflower-eared experience at the highest level, it is rare for as many fresh faces to be making such a concerted impact on the grand old tournament.
Front and centre for France in Cardiff on Sunday was the 21-year-old l’homme du match Nolann Le Garrec, whose outrageous reverse Hail Mary long pass has rightly been delighting social media users from beyond rugby’s traditional audiences. Then there is Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, also 21, who was outstanding on his first start for England having missed training the week before to sit a medical exam. If his bedside manner is anything like his attacking instinct, the future of the National Health Service is in safe hands.
Across in Italy it has been impossible to miss the positive contributions of Tommaso Menoncello and Ross Vintcent, both also 21. Menoncello has returned from injury to confirm himself as one of the continent’s most promising young backs; Vintcent, who was delivering pizzas in Exeter a few weeks ago, was at the heart of Saturday’s famous win over Scotland.
Ireland’s 22-year-old Joe McCarthy was sweeping all before him until he bumped into England’s George Martin, also 22, at Twickenham. France have not had the smoothest of tournaments but, in addition to Le Garrec, possess a clutch of fast-rising newcomers from the centre Nicolas Depoortère to the massive second-row Posolo Tuilagi. Wales’s Cameron Winnett has made an extremely positive start to his Test career, Dafydd Jenkins is captaining his national side at 21 and Mason Grady has the potential to be a long-time Test regular.
We have not even mentioned Léo Barré or Louis Bielle-Biarrey or Wales’s Alex Mann or England’s Chandler Cunningham-South or Scotland’s Harry Paterson. The Six Nations campaign directly after a World Cup is always a potential opportunity to pension off one or two old-timers and blood potential replacements but no longer are the latter holding tackle bags or settling for a couple of nervous minutes off the bench.
Partly this is a product of how rugby has developed: academy players are now training more regularly alongside their seniors at club level, age-group World Cups can fast-track their development and, physically, an increase in ball-in-play time suits fitter, younger bodies. Living a professional life from their mid to late teens helps, too, when the time comes to handling the mental demands of the highest level.