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The 18-year-old is one of the most highly-rated young players in Wales
Highly-rated Welsh teenager Carwyn Leggatt-Jones was pulled out of school ahead of the Scarlets‘ European Champions Cup clash with Northampton Saints amid concerns around one Wales international.
The region became the only Welsh professional side to crash out of European competition before this season’s knockout stages on Sunday as they were beaten 43-28 by the English giants. Despite a much-improved performance from the Scarlets, who made an impressive start to the clash at Franklin’s Gardens, a hat-trick from 19-year-old Edoardo Todaro helped the hosts to victory.
However, there was nearly another teenage talent taking to the field, with 18-year-old Leggatt-Jones taken out of school earlier in the week to join in with training ahead of the European tie.
Wales fly-half Sam Costelow returned to action on Sunday having been sidelined with an ankle injury for over a month and hit the ground running with a try, assist and eight points from the tee.
But, according to the Scarlets’ new interim director of rugby Nigel Davies, there were doubts over whether the Welsh international would be able to play, with Leggatt-Jones – who only turned 18 at the end of November – in line to be thrown straight into the starting line-up.
While Costelow was ultimately fine to take the field and ended up playing a full match, having the Llandovery College fly-half on standby as his replacement in a big European tie shows just how highly thought of the teenage talent is, with the newly-appointed Davies set to give him and other youngsters more opportunities on the biggest stages.
Speaking about the young talents at his disposal after the full-time whistle in Northampton, Davies said: “I thought Eddie James had one of his best games for us, he is a real talent, a real athlete.
“Him and Joe [Hawkins] worked well and I thought we have X factors players when we move the ball. Someone like Jac Davies, who is one of the young players in this group who has a real spark, had a fantastic game.
“We also have someone like 18-year-old Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, who we took out of school to train with us this week,” he continued.
“There were doubts over Sam Costelow before the game, if he hadn’t made it, Carwyn would have played. Giving these guys opportunities is what we are going to be doing.
“There is a lot of work to do, we have started the process but I have been really encouraged by the way the guys have taken to it.”
Leggatt-Jones is one of the most highly-rated teenagers in Wales, playing a key part in Llandovery College winning back-to-back Wales Schools and Colleges Rugby titles and being named player of the match in both finals at the Principality Stadium.
He was also named in the team of the tournament at last year’s U18s Six Nations Festival in France and made his senior competitive debut for the Scarlets off the bench against Glasgow two days after his 18th birthday.
Speaking to WalesOnline last year, the 18-year-old said, despite interest from England, Parc y Scarlets was the best place to be for his development.
“I did have a couple of offers to go across the bridge but the Scarlets believed in me quite early and put their trust in me,” he said.
“They brought me in at 14 so I wanted to pay them back by staying with them. Also, I can’t fault the environment they’ve put me in. I don’t see any reason to leave the Scarlets.”
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