The History of Bath Colts / Youth rugby

Tapping into Local Potential – a Potted History of Bath Colts and Youth Team (U19’s) Rugby from the 1930s to the beginning of the Professional Era in 1995

There is very little written down in the archives about the genesis of Colts rugby in Bath, but from the recollections of past players and the fixture cards we have it would seem that Bath started its Colts team at the beginning of the 1930’s. Like many clubs, Bath recognised the need to harness rising local talent and the consensus of opinion was that the Club should draw from local schools ( The Bath and District Schools Rugby Union, formed in 1904, was well established and had already produced a stream of talented players including their first International) and the Bath Combination clubs rather than have a fully integrated team within the club.

It appears that the Club suspended the running of a Colts XV during the Second World War (1939 – 1945) – and even, possibly, into the 1950’s as we have yet to unearth evidence of fixtures played or players coming through the system in the archives.
A return to the format of playing a “Bath Schools & District” Colts team in the 1960’s is evidenced by the programme highlighted below – a match against a representative side from the Air Training Corps on Saturday April 23rd 1963.

In 1977 the Bath Club Management Committee agreed to a change in approach and asked former captain, Phil Hall to work with the Combination Clubs to see if they would release players for a Bath Colts side that would play matches under lights on a Wednesday evening. This proved to be a success and three years later the Club went a stage further and integrated the Colts into the Club structure. This transition was driven by Roger Berry, the Chairman of the Bath Committee, and Frank Cottle who had taken on the role of Colts Team Manager – leaving Phil Hall to concentrate on his coaching role.

The 1980-81 season saw Bath field an U19 side in its own name for the first time – now called Bath Youth – with a full Saturday fixture list and a new management team. Although Frank Cottle remained as Team Manager two new coaches were recruited from within the club – Geoff Pillinger and Tom Martland – to take the team forward. Fixtures were arranged against peer senior clubs in England & Wales as well as local clubs that had strong Saturday Colts teams. The philosophy of recruiting ex-players to coach the Youth team continued through the 1980’s. Steve Richards and Derek Brown took over the reins in July 1985/6 season, followed by John Kimberley and Lyn Derrick in 1988/9.

It is no coincidence that the Youth team prospered at the same time as the senior side were ruling the roost. Local players still formed the core of the side, but there was an increasing influx of players from the wider South West region, attracted by the profile of Bath as the leading club in England. A rich vein of talent passed through the Youth team during this time, producing Bath’s own British Lion – Jeremy Guscott. Internationals John Palmer & John Hall also came through the system with Jon Morrison playing for England B. Many players stayed with the Senior Club after playing for the Colts/Youth team with a number playing for the First XV – these include Geoff Pillinger; Pete Blackett; Steve Knight; Paul Knight; Jimmy Dean; Kevin Withey and Clive Book, to name but a few. In 1988 Paul Knight’s younger brother, Jamie, became the first Bath Youth player to be selected for England Youth – playing against France. Unfortunately  a serious injury in that game prevented further appearances.

The 1990’s saw significant change, driven by the need to adapt to the new league structure and the advent of professionalism in 1995. John Kimberley was succeeded by Dave O’Sullivan and we saw the club widen the search for new talent to the region and eventually nationally. In 1994 the Club formalised this approach by publishing “Vision” for the Colts team, driven by Richard Hill, to “Recruit the cream of English Rugby talent from the England Schools 18 group and England Colts U19 group”. This was the first step in bringing a harder, more focused approach to recruitment – a forerunner to the way that Clubs set up their Academies today.

Bath became the club of choice for aspiring International players and this was reflected in the number of players being selected for Somerset, South West and England Youth & School teams. In 1990/91 Andy Webber became the second Bath player to win International honours at Youth level and over the next few seasons was followed by a succession of others – Neil McCarthy; Bryn Kennard; Scott Perkins & Jonathan Healy (Scotland) in 1992/3. Twenty seven of that year’s squad played County rugby, with six going on to the South West side. 1993/4 saw 17 players play for Somerset, with 8 going on to the South West side. Andy Collins joined Neil McCarthy in the National side. 1994/5 saw the trend continue – and accelerate – with seven players gaining caps at Youth & School U19 level. Neil McCarthy won a record 9 caps and was joined by Andy Collins; Kevin Yates; James Cockle & Chris Horseman. Eight players moved to the Senior squads with Ed Pearce making the most immediate impact. Three others moved to other clubs to make their name – Trevor Woodman; Craig Gillies & Charlie Harrison.

1995/6 was the last season before the game became professional and the Youth team continued to churn out International players that went on to make their names in the new era – these included Jeremy Cook; Richard Bryan; Adam Vander & Will James who represented the Wales international team.. Last, but not least, Matt Perry who was  to become (for a time) England’s most capped Full-back.

Acknowledgement
This article is based on the records and research of Terry Knight and others.