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'Crikey': Son of league legend Martin Offiah picked by England U18s
By Liam Heagney
Tyler Offiah, the son of rugby league legend Martin, is poised to play for England at the upcoming U18s Six Nations festival in Italy.
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Age-grade coach Jonathan Pendlebury has included the London and South Central academy winger in the 26-strong squad for the eight-team tournament that starts this Saturday in Parma.
England face Wales in their opening Stadio Lanfranchi match, with games versus Scotland and Georgia to follow, and the Offiah name will stand out if included on the team sheet.
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Pendlebury held a media briefing with skipper Connor Treacey and when RugbyPass asked the head coach about the inclusion of the teenage Offiah who has a famous father, he initially deflected the query onto the Bath back-rower.
Pendlebury: “Do you know who he is talking about?”
The next generation 🔥
Head coach Jonathan Pendlebury has named his 26-player squad to travel to Parma for the U18 Men’s Six Nations Rugby Festival, which gets started on Saturday 30 March!
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 19, 2024
Treacey: “Yeah, Martin Offiah.”
Pendlebury: “You know who Martin Offiah is?”
Treacey: “Yeah.”
“The reason I am asking Connor is it depends on who you are talking to,” continued Pendlebury. “Some of these guys won’t know and hey look, it’s a completely different sport as well. But yeah, Martin Offiah, crikey, he could score a try.
“Just somebody like Tyler, as we have seen with an awful lot of these young lads coming through, the game has been professional now for several years. People who were playing the game in England, their sons are coming through.
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“Myself, I seem to have coached a number of them at Leeds, at Wasps academies previously, England age group; I seem to be coaching more and more sons of a certain player.
“But yeah, depending on who you are speaking to, some people might not know, might not have ever heard of Martin Offiah’s tries because they might be thinking, ‘It’s the same ball but it’s the wrong game’.”
How similar is Tyler to Martin? “They like scoring tries, yeah. I think, yeah, just similar in that he [Tyler] likes playing rugby with a smile on his face. I remember watching his dad play in all those Challenge Cup fixtures that always used to be on the BBC and he was in some pretty dominant sides in that era.
“So you have got a young man who is trying to find his own way in a different sport and certainly a different era. But yeah, young Tyler is working hard.
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“He had a little bit of a setback where he picked up a knock but then he has come back into the squad with us and hopefully, just like all the other guys, is in a position to express himself and just enjoy it and maximise the opportunity they have got with us.”
Eight Gallagher Premiership clubs are represented in the England squad as are three regional academies which have filled the gap caused by last season’s demise of Worcester, Wasps and London Irish.
Offiah was part of the Irish academy and Pendlebury was pleased with how the RFU reacted to ensure that youngsters on the books at these fallen clubs weren’t left in the lurch.
“What would you have done? You would have 140, 150 kids unhappy that all of a sudden something stops. Those guys who were able to stick around and probably even worked unpaid for a while.
“Then the RFU were able to get into a position to then function as best they could and look, they probably had to prioritise those guys in year 13 than the guys in year 12 and then supporting the guys that are then coming through.
“Look, there is still an awful lot of work continuing in the background to make that successful for those guys. By no means ideal, pretty unfortunate for what had gone on.
“I know from being at Leeds academy in previous roles I have had and not having a Premiership club in the county there for a number of years now to then working for Wasps and then seeing Wasps disappear;
“To lose three big names in the Premiership and then other clubs struggling up and down the country is not what we want because whether it is at the top end of the game in the Premiership or whether it is level two, three or four and whatever.
“We want rugby to be thriving and opportunities for these guys coming through the game as well as the guys that are exiting the game and might be wanting to drop down the leagues to transition out of professional or semi-professional lives.”
