Over the last 14 months Chester RUFC have implemented a colt’s transition pathway to support the development of young players and to improve the transition to senior rugby.

The pathway involves one squad of three age groups under one lead coaching group, the pathway will provide consistency in training and playing strategies across three teams, U16, Junior and Senior Colts. The lead coaching group of James Preston, Josh Bate and Phil Turnbull are supported by the existing age group coaches who continue to deliver the set playing patterns and structure on match day and mentor players. The coaching team is supported by the club physio and strength and conditioning coaches at the Athlete Factory gym on site.

The transition pathway has seen a lot of positives in terms of player development and learning for players and coaches which can be seen in many of our recent results. On Sunday 2nd October the Junior Colts supported by U16’s players were away at Broughton Park winning 27-14 with a really good all-round performance. The Senior Colts were at home to Liverpool St Helens winning 19 – 5. A development U16’s side lost to Wirral, providing a valuable insight in how we can balance the needs of each age group - whilst also providing stretch for players ready for their next challenge.

Sunday the 9th October provided the pathway with the opportunity to put the previous Sunday’s learning into practice. First up were the U16’s away at Knutsford playing a balanced, mixed team. Chester played with much better structure and confidence than the previous week resulting in a 36-17 win in a fixture which was played in-line with the core values of the game. The junior Colts at home to a strong mid table West Park Sefton, an outstanding whole team performance resulted in a close 34-28 home win. The Senior Colts travelled away to second in the table Rochdale which resulted in a narrow loss 21-5. To take the positives from this game, players are starting to take ownership and developing a really positive attitude to game day.

The key learning points to take away from the pathway fixtures so far us how important it is to achieve the balance between retaining the structure, balance and leadership of each team whilst providing challenge and development for those able to play up. We have managed to play almost 50 players across all three pathway teams which is one of the objectives of the transition pathway. It is already clear that the changes in the coaching and training environment, the match-day structure and physio support has had a really positive impact across the whole squad. This is an exciting time for Chester RUFC providing greater potential for homegrown players to play for our senior teams on a Saturday afternoon in the future.

Ian Wilson