According to Premiership Rugby no fewer than 169 players have made their debut in the competition as of November 2016. Despite it becoming more of a lottery on who plays in it over the last few years with some sides using it as a developmental competition and others targeting it as a chance of silverware. Our writer Robert Rees looks at three players who have made their debut through the tournament and gone on to better things.
Anglo Welsh Cup: Birthplace of rugby stars
Luke Wallace
The Harlequins flanker made his Quins debut against London Irish and has talked about how it developed him as a player. Nine years on from that match, he’s a regular starter for one of England’s top teams and has played nearly 130 times for them. Scoring 15 tries in the process. He may not have reached the heights of the others on this list, but sealing your spot in an Aviva Premiership squad for the biggest part of a decade is no mean feat and deserves just a much credit.
The highlight of his career was his selection for England in the squad to face the Barbarians in the summer of 2014. Although he is yet to get capped it proves his quality was recognised by the national setup and sets up that the AW Cup was a good platform to develop players from.
Jason Robinson
The most famous of players on this list, Robinson started his career off with Sale in the Anglo Welsh Cup. Having made only 13 appearances in rugby union for Bath before heading to Sale, it has to be regarded as the match that set him on his way to being the 2003 World Cup winner and rugby dual code legend that he is. Going on to play over 150 times for Sale and over 50 times for England.
Yes, the 2003 World Cup will most likely be his fondest memory, but it’s also worth noting that he represented the British and Irish Lions five times. An honour which has bestowed only 835 men since it’s inception over 100 years ago.
Rugby League would have no doubt helped him, but as many players who cross the code from union to league or vice versa, it’s not an easy route to make and not everyone gets a hero status in both. Jason Robinson fully able to hold that title.
Maro Itoje
The Saracens star who has made a supreme breakthrough over the last two seasons led Saracens to the AW Cup back in 2015 before regularly appearing in their first team squad. He’s now the feature forward and the man they build their team around most weeks. With 14 England caps and 3 British and Irish Lions appearances he is certainly a star for the future. The second row forward had no issue in stepping up from the AW Cup to the Aviva Premiership proving that it can indeed be a birthplace for rugby stars despite it decreasing in value over recent years in terms of development.
Itoje is well regarded as the best forward in world rugby right now and he can perhaps hold that down to being given a chance in the 2015 AW Cup before being promoted to the first team. The 23 year old who rocked the rugby world back in 2016 appearing out of nowhere proving that you can do something special if given a chance.
