Said his father Malcolm this morning: ‘He has settled in well at London Irish, where he is receiving first-class support.
He is happy, working hard and now getting the rewards.
‘This is the first step on the ladder towards an international career and he is committed to giving everything to achieve that aim.
‘Being involved with the Academy gives him access to one-on-one coaching with some of the very top people.’ In fact, the former Les Quennevais student has already spent time with Academy coaches, including a session at Bath University watched by Daily Telegraph rugby correspondent and former England lock forward Paul Ackford.
Under the headline: ‘England’s likely lads look good for 2011’, Ackford was clearly impressed by what he saw from the 18-strong squad of 15-18-year-olds taking part.
He wrote; ‘The first pleasant shock was the sheer athleticism of those involved.
All were gifted sportsmen.
Not rugby players.
Sportsmen.
‘Eighteen of the nation’s most promising players were attended by nine salaried RFU coaches, headed by Brian Ashton.
There was more one-to-one help than you could shake a stick at.
‘In the unopposed session, where there was just one dropped pass in 20 minutes of in-your-face rugby incidentally, a lock was thundering towards the line when he was confronted by a wall of defenders.
What did he do? Just manufactured the sweetest chip over the lot of them, caught the ball without it bouncing or losing speed.
That’s all.’ The lock in question was Matt Banahan.
And next Wednesday the former Jersey RFC Youth player, already with two senior Siam Cups under his belt, has been selected for an under-19 team drawn from the London Regional Academies to take on France under-19s.
Banahan’s club London Irish will host the international match at Sunbury on Thames against the French.
Commenting on the match London Irish Academy Manager Corin Palmer said: ‘We are pleased to have been invited to host this special match and to have five of our players in the London team.
These young men are the possible international players of the future so the more exposure they get to matches like this the better.’
