A rugby coach set to oversee the stars of tomorrow at Exeter Chiefs believes Wales could be missing out on unearthing a homegrown Alex Dombrandt through ignoring the university game here.
Dombrandt left Cardiff Met for Harlequins last summer and has been a sensation in his rookie season in the Gallagher Premiership.
His barnstorming performances in the back-row for Quins saw him named the players' player of the season at the Twickenham Stoop and the supporter's player of the year.
He was also rewarded with a call-up for the England XV clash with the Barbarians this month and could well become a bolter for Eddie Jones' senior squad heading off to the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
But former Pontypool coach Louie Tonkin, who was Head of Rugby at Cardiff Uni from 2014-16, says the WRU are missing a trick in not following England's lead and identifying students as future professional rugby players.
Tonkin, who also coached Carmarthen Quins, left Pooler and Cardiff University three years ago to become director of rugby at the Bahrain Rugby Union.
He will leave that job this summer for a coaching role with the senior academy at Premiership big-hitters Exeter.
He recently took up a short stint as assistant coach of Thailand, helping former Samoan star Apollo Perelini knock his side into shape for the Asia Rugby Championship, before returning to the UK this month.
In an interview with Talking Rugby Union the 6ft 6in former lock, from Builth Wells, has called on Welsh rugby chiefs to wake up to the untapped potential within the university game.
He said of British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) which Wales will have Swansea, Cardiff and Cardiff Met playing in the Super Rugby competition next season: “They’re like academies now. They have an extra 10 or 12 academies in the UK that are churning out professional players.
“Look at some of the guys that are coming out of Cardiff Met, guys like Alex Dombrandt, who are coming out of university physically ready to play professional rugby.”
With Swansea Uni joining the division next season, Tonkin is pleading for the WRU to identify BUCS as a way to develop players for senior professional rugby, in contrast to when he was coaching at Cardiff.
“It was made very clear to us that whilst BUCS was a big part of the English rugby pathway, it wasn’t part of the Welsh Rugby Union’s pathway," he added.
"I hope for the three big universities in that league, the WRU will wake up and start to invest in them a little bit, because they are on an unfair playing field unfortunately.”
Tonkin has made the most of his university connections back in the UK during his time in the Middle East with 18 of his Bahrain squad coming from BUCS Super Rugby.
“They’ve come from Exeter, there is a big Hartpury College contingent and a large contingent from Cardiff University are out here too so that has been a big recruitment pool for us, largely because they are well-rounded young men,” Tonkin said.
“They have got great academic CV’s, great degrees and they’re also great rugby players. It sets them up really, really well for bigger things later in life."
And on switching from the sands of the Middle East to Sandy Park, Exeter, he said of his move to the 2019 beaten Gallagher Premiership finalists: “I have respected what they have done from the very beginning.
"When they got promoted from the Championship years ago, the way that they did that, kept their squad together and recruited really well.”
“I just respect their values. From the outside looking in, it all looked very impressive and when I went there for my interview, I was blown away by the professionalism of it all.”
