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Jonathan Pendlebury: 'I don’t want to fluff it up too much'
It’s been a long way from there to here for Jonathan Pendlebury, from a comp school in Rotherham to coaching the England U18s and nurturing the Twickenham stars of tomorrow. He’s proud of what he has done in the past and excited about what he might be able to do in the future.
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Right now, the rate of knots has slowed given the time of year it is academically for the kids. There are exams to be done, club academy contracts to be sorted, the sort of activity that doesn’t come under Pendlebury’s remit.
Last month it was all go when the 41-year-old guided England to three successive wins Six Nations festival wins in Parma, and the speed will pick up heading into August when he tours South Africa with the U17s whose status will jump to U18s the following month, signalling the annual developmental cycle starting fresh all over again.
Some recent caps are already making headlines. Amongst the squad that got the better of Wales, Scotland and Georgia in Italy was Tyler Offiah, son of rugby league legend Martin. His next step is Bath, but Pendlebury isn’t hanging by the phone awaiting every contractual twist and turn.
“If I’m honest I don’t take any interest in it, which might sound boring,” he told RugbyPass. “It’s not really for me to get involved in. I know that Tyler has gone across to Bath because he is thinking of studying there.
"Crikey": Son of league legend Martin Offiah picked by England U18s.
– Jonathan Pendlebury, with Liam Heagney ???, on selecting Tyler Offiah for the U18s Six Nations festival in Italy. #EnglandRugby #SixNations #rugby
Click below for more ??https://t.co/zlVGvXkM4o
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 27, 2024
“There have been a couple of other announcements from other clubs, but I just wait and see where they are registered at the beginning of the season heading into their U19s and are eligible to come back onto our radar.”
Ask when unfolded on the Six Nations pitches six weeks ago, though, and his response is very different. The intel flows. “Very, very pleased to win. Three very, very different fixtures.
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“A really tough, exciting Welsh team, a challenging, physical Scotland team that wanted to play fast, and as soon as the game finished against Georgia, I went up to their coaches – and I said to Mark Mapletoft as well, who is leading our 20s – we need to play Georgia more often.
“They are a different challenge to what we get playing France, playing Ireland, playing Italy, and definitely the other three home nations teams. It was good to have Portugal (at the festival).
“We didn’t play them but brilliant having Georgia. You could see they were well-coached, a tough side to break down. The mix up of forwards and backs connecting, the set-piece, and just some tough physical carriers.”
Aside from the victories, Pendlebury hopes these graduated U18s left the grade more aware of what pro rugby is about. “They came in to explore and hopefully they have left better, picked up some skills, whether it is technical, tactical work, even some off-pitch things. Every morning on camp, they did a check-in with the medics and the S&Cs.
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“We call it prepare to train, some self-check physical checks, mental prep checks. Are you getting ready to train? For example, you might have had a game the day before, are you still sore or are you injured from the game? Then we go to breakfast and then into reviews.
“That is going to be their life and career for the next eight, 10, 12-plus years if they want to be in that top-end game and how you prepare for a game off the back of recovering from a game is important.
“Hopefully, some experiences they gain with us on preparing individually and preparing collectively gives them skills and experiences of what it looks like and stands them in good stead to be professionals.
“And then also what touring is like at U18s… hopefully, they have learned better and have skills in their kit bag to take into their next environment where it gets even harder because they are then competing against U40s and competing against the world.”
Pendlebury’s 2023/24 batch has moved on, but the scouting continues. Warwick festival, for instance, was on at the same time as he was in Italy so there was plenty of footage to be reviewed as well as an introductory gathering at Hartpury for the U17s who will tour South Africa.
As ever, some potential positional switches are under consideration. “That happens regularly,” he explained. “The academies are fully involved with us on that, the player is always at the centre of that and involved in the discussions. We had two openside flankers, for example, who came to the U17 camp and had a throwing session with Andy Titterell. They were throwing in the lineouts.
“I had discussions with their academies. They trained as flankers all weekend and played as flankers in the game, but they were throwing with Andy in the lineouts session and got feedback.
“We have players who are middle two/outside back who can play 13, 14, 15. We have 10s who are 10/12 or they might be a 12/10. Flankers playing across the back row. We have some ones definitely moving. It might be an exploring through the 16s, 17s, and in the U18s that is going to be the year where they hope to get some positional confirmation.”
No matter how forensic the work done by Pendlebury and co, there are no guarantees that talented teenagers will thrive in adult rugby. “If we had a crystal ball it would be a lot easier, but we haven’t. You are just trying to make a best guess, aren’t you?
Powering over ?
Sam Graham dives in to give England a 12-9 lead!
Watch live here ?
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) April 7, 2024
“You are trying to make the best guestimate based upon the physical characteristics that they have got, their ability now but also the perceived ability they could be in the future. And then just based upon the experiences you have had with similar players whether it has worked or not.”
Come September, there will be 11 academies – 10 Premiership clubs and Yorkshire – compared to last season’s 14 as the emergency setups created to offset the demise of Worcester, Wasps, and London Irish will be closed and absorbed by the remaining academies extending their recruitment boundaries.
“There is not less players because these players are still playing and have loads of opportunities,” insisted Pendlebury. “If you are playing club, school, college, those playing opportunities are there.”
The RFU are often accused of running a sport for posh kids, but Pendlebury doesn’t agree. He didn’t have a private school pathway in Rotherham, instead playing age-grade for his country and then making it professionally with Gloucester and Leeds after breaking through at the local Titans. In other words, where there is a will there is a way.
“You don’t want it to be too fluffy, but I always want the players to dream big. Dream big and it’s the club coaches that are volunteering who fuel that ambition and give them opportunities if they are playing.
“There are guys who don’t play England U18s and maybe come into the U20s late. There are a few who don’t even play England 18s/20s but with university rugby how it is now, we like to think that we have got good relationships and don’t miss many players, or the academies don’t miss many players. There is good awareness of what is going on.
“I started playing rugby quite late. I was 15. There was a lot of football and athletics done at my school and I was just fortunate the volunteers were offering me opportunities down at my junior club, Wath upon Dearne.
The future is bright ??
A stunning try from Nick Lilley secures victory at the death for England U18 Men ?
Watch the game back here ?
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) April 7, 2024
“Made some good mates there, played county rugby, went into South Yorkshire and Yorkshire and then the North of England. It was just very different back then. It was the old county system, and the game has moved on.
“There is a lot of opportunities for the counties and then there is a lot of opportunities for the regional academies, and they are just very different to support the different ambitions of the youngsters coming through.”
What’s his message for kids from the other side of the tracks, who don’t have a private school route into the game? “My stock answer is to take ownership of your career. Take ownership of your destiny. Now I don’t want to fluff it up too much by saying if you work hard enough at something you will get the rewards.
“In the real world that doesn’t always happen and, as I say, when you get into the U35s, U40s league, even when you are competing domestically in England and are a Premiership player, you are still competing against the rest of world because the Premiership can bring in overseas players.
“My answer would be, take ownership of your career; take ownership of your academy career, of your employment career. Find out what good looks like to get into an academy. Find what good looks like to achieve grades in your exams. That is the competitive world as well, to get into university, to get on the apprenticeship programmes.”
Pendlebury’s ‘coaching’ ownership began as a player. “There was a period when I was injured for a significant time, but I could get out and do some volunteer coaching. I thought, ‘Right, if I want to do it well or find out if I’m good enough, let’s get some qualifications’. I did my coaching badges, took myself back to uni knowing I would need more paydays after playing rugby than in it.”
There have been sliding doors. He exited the Wasps academy for the RFU four months before the pandemic hit and his old club has since gone to the wall. “Some clubs fell on hard times, and it was really tough to see a lot of my good friends at Wasps end up having to step away.”
"It's tough… I don't know what it is."
– Jonathan Pendlebury, the England U18s coach, on the absence of a top-flight club in his native Yorkshire since Leeds' 2011 relegation, with Liam Heagney ?? #GallagherPrem #EnglandRugby pic.twitter.com/69upIpU7OZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 8, 2024
Professional rugby in Pendlebury’s native Yorkshire remains a minefield, the Premiership a no-go zone and Doncaster Knights solo flying the flag in the Championship. “When I went back to Leeds from Gloucester, you had Leeds, Rotherham, Doncaster, Otley all in the Championship.
“Just underneath that you had Wharfedale, the two Hull clubs, you had Harrogate. Like, rugby has always been strong in Yorkshire. There are over 100 senior clubs and nearly a hundred with junior sections as well, but it’s tough.
“There’s not been Premiership elite rugby in the county since we were relegated in that 2010/11 season… There are several contributing factors. Finances. Playing numbers. Competition from sport. Just general interest of those areas as well.”
It was last Tuesday when Alex Sanderson, the Sale director of rugby, mentioned working with a teenage Mako Vunipola while coaching the England U18s. Does Pendlebury have designs on that type of coaching career trajectory?
“My skill set is on the development side. I’ve put an awful lot of time and effort into that. I see myself being a specialist development coach rather than a specialist first-team coach or a specialist senior Premiership forwards coach, scrum coach, lineout coach.
“I do see it as a specialism. Everything from developing your coaching curriculum and what the needs of the players are at 16 to 18. My skill set suits and my passion suits working with these players.
“I probably excel in a lot of areas in that development side, but it might mean I fall short in a Premiership environment. There might be some skill set that transitions well but others not and I’d have to upskill myself.
“For the time being where I want to be is hopefully making England rugby union pathway the best in the world. That’s my ambition. What that looks like is having a successful game and development pathway for the lads coming through at 17, 18 and then give them a stepping stone into professional rugby and hopefully an experience going into professional rugby.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Well earned accolade from her teammates. She should be one of the first two or three names on the team sheet. Such a self-effacing and well-rounded girl as well. Best #8 in the world.
1 Go to commentsIt will be a real eye opener for the Black Ferns to come and play at Twickenham in front of a 60,000 plus crowd made up of all sorts, families, budding Red Roses, coach loads of rugby club members and just rugby fans converted to the women’s game. The Red Roses are really well marketed with lots of online features on the players and the games are on terrestial TV. It also helps that they are a brilliant team and the entertainment value is great, it all makes for a great day out and Twickenham is not the easiest ground to get to. I was at the Ireland game and have seven tickets for my family for the September match. When Ellie Kildunne gets the ball the buzz of expectation that goes round the ground is huge.
2 Go to commentsI can’t see the Highlanders doing the Brumbies a favour unless the Canes spend a stack of time down to 14 men and even then the Canes still might win! Neither side duking it out in the Battle of the Bombays will want to head into the finals with a 2 game losing streak to their name. Stern Vern will ensure the Blues are better than they were last week. They’ll bounce back to beat the Chiefs which means the Brumbies have to win the title from 3rd and the Chiefs will face their bogey side, the QLD Reds on the back of 2 straight losses.
6 Go to commentsRatima's natural combination with D Mac should give him the starters berth, leaving the more experienced Fakatava to come on when needed. If Razor is as forward thinking as they say then Perenara should be yesterday's man. He's had his go and his game hasn't adapted or improved. Hotham should be next in line until Roigard is back. If he continues to improve he could leapfrog the others and become deputy to Roigard such is his rapid rise. We're looking real good for halfbacks.
3 Go to comments> I love seeing crowds of little girls with their friendship bracelets and signs being inspired by these players, but it feels like we need to get away from women’s rugby as a constant crusade where we tell people they “should” be supporting, and instead be better at marketing the players’ skills and personalities to a mass audience. I don’t know Rikki, that would seem like a better virtue to have than fangirl’n some player to silly heights like they do. It’s traditionally how things are done, it may not be embedded loyalty but it is loyalty none the less. One thing that will help a lot on both of those fronts though is having those household names, don’t want to be switching players year to year.
2 Go to commentsLooks a more wide open competition now than in the early rounds. Looking across the Tasman from Australia, this year there is not the same, shall we say, “fear factor” as in years past. A combination of players retiring and moving offshore has certainly had an effect, especially on the Crusaders. Over here, the Qld.Reds, in my view, are the biggest improvers from last year.. The “Wild Goose”, Les Kiss, has begun to mould a team that, if it fires, can beat anyone. It has been interesting to watch his tactic of rotating players, giving rest spells along with crucial experience to a wide group of players. Having to play away from home will be tough, but a win over the Chiefs(in Brisbane), and close games against Blues and Hurricanes give hope.
6 Go to commentsOne of the keys to the Super Rugby finals format, as opposed to in the NH for instance, is this battle for home semi’s and finals, which doesn’t happen in Europe where host venues are required. The monetary reward may also trump the playing advantage for some. I don’t think there needs to be so many knockout games though. I would prefer the NRL style top two skip the second week of playoffs, bottom two drop off. I’m not a big fan of rest weeks but feel its better than having a top side randomly knocked out. Just for those freak occurrences, though with the 20min RC that’s less likely these days. It’s a really interesting outlook for the Lautoka game. Highlanders I understand are going with the second stringers. How much can a side change their lineup just before the game?
6 Go to commentsThey look they must have known before the game. Photo’s can be rough like that.
4 Go to commentsThere is really two different ways of critiquing this question and really two seperate categories. The first and most obvious is which player would you entirely clone for a team, I'm talking if you had to pick one player and that player is in every position including the bench…. The second criteria would be the player with all the skills, undoubtedly Dupont belongs in that category as does Dan Carter. The key difference is Dan Carter has two world cup winners medals and Dupont has none. So it's a hard one to claim that Dupont exceeds DC. The first category he'd also not be that guy and neither would Dan Carter. The first category is in reality the true decider of who is the greatest rugby player of all time. My pick would be approximately six foot four, 119kg’s and allegedly did the 100 metres in 10.7 seconds. That being Jonah Lomu. However thinking about who could realistically have a go at matching up to a team of Lomus also highlights the importance of size followed by speed. So a clone team of Eben Etzebeth perhaps, physically bigger at six foot eight and 126kg he would be a handful for the Lomu team. The Etzebeths would need to seriously slow the game down to have a chance
3 Go to commentsExcellent initiative
1 Go to commentsSuper Rugby: the shop window for the Northern hypocrites who buy in the talent they are unable to develop in their one dimensional club and school rugby. $$$
1 Go to commentsHi NIck, Last week (the great hairless) Harry and you stated that you thought Leinster would win. That the Saffa driven defense was stronger than Toulouse’s. I could not see the entire match, as I was near Lake Garda on an extended weekend with sun escaping the dreary Brussels weather, but from what I saw, ST had a more patient and disciplined defense. Even if Leinster had more ball, they didn’t appear to make much of it. ST always appeared poised and dangerous while defending. What I saw (opinion only) was that Leinster showed little creativity to penetrate the ST line. A few errors here and there allowed points, but overall, I’m not sure that Leinster has developed a counterattack good enough to support the strong defense. Just look at some ST players, like Willis in your article, Dupont, even Chocobares did a great job on the defensive side and manage to counterattack better. I am somewhat surprised that ST managed such defensive discipline so quickly… By the way, in soccer there are lots of examples of great defensive teams that couldn’t score… By the way, Chocobares and Mallia have improved a lot since joining ST, not only the pom did.
48 Go to commentsThis article ignores much of the actual facts. The outcome of the Pilkington Review is that PUs are not capable of running their own organisations, let alone a modern multi billion dollar company. The details of proposal 2, especially around the formation of the GAP and ARP still gives outsized voting rights to the PUs, who have proven incapable stewards of the game. On their watch the game in NZ has deteriorated by every measure - yet they have given themselves pass marks on every previous review they have done of themselves. Proposal 2 allows for the very few capable people who will be on the board to be outvoted by the status quo. It’s a shame Nichol seems to be all talk about the pro players splitting off. It is the best thing that could have happened for all parties.
5 Go to commentsYes he was missed last week Choat whilst industrious couldn’t match Glassadder and Grace It will be very interesting to see the loose forward mix for England Tough calls for Razor and co - Will his crusader head take over? Ironically out of the crusader loosies I’ve been most impressed with CLW Really versatile and covers 8 far better than EB and CG Really tough calls to make for Razor but old like to see Papalii, Finau and Ardie start Sotutu on the bench but rotate loosies next match
1 Go to commentsThis is a tough choice for Razor Lots of competition at halfback With Roigard out until I guess the EOYT I’d start TJ and then have the guile of Fakatava So tough though, there is the strength and support play of Ratima and the speed of Hotham Of course Christie is back and while much maligned you can’t throw away experience Loosies are the other areas where there is a plethora of options
3 Go to commentsHope he doesn’t go for White at 9. If we want our 10s to develop we need to play off the 10 and have the 10 controlling the game. We’ve seen how White can kill off play off 10 and why Eddie dropped him.
6 Go to commentsDupont’s a ‘good’ player, however been far better half’s than him for sure, Aaron Smith one of the best 9’s ever…Dupont got along way to go to have the GOAT mantle applied to his name…didn’t see him or his team ever hold up a world cup…
24 Go to commentsFingers crossed the Super Round comes to Brisbane now.
4 Go to commentsIt is time the amateur and professional game in NZ split entirely with the NPC becoming entirely amateur. High school rugby should be run by local clubs with the exception of the elite rugby schools who are essentially feeders to the Super Franchises anyway. Also if League is going to continue to dangle contracts in front of the noses of our elite 15 year olds… maybe SR franchises should step in and do the same.
5 Go to commentsI remember him. Hamilton Boys High and then Waikato. No Chiefs call so off to Canberra where lots of ex NPC kiwis ply their trade hoping for a Wallaby shirt. Hawkes Bay NPC players in particular and now aTaniwha midfielder.
2 Go to comments