Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first-ever appearance of a Leicester Tigers Youth Team and the beginning of a process that has contributed to the club’s greatest successes.
Where the Class of 1972 led, successive generations have followed with names like Martin Johnson, Graham Rowntree, Harry Ellis, Tom Croft, Tom and Ben Youngs, Manu Tuilagi, and Dan Cole coming through the ranks as Youth team or Tigers Academy graduates.
A new generation is led by Tommy Reffell, Freddie Steward, Joe Heyes, Jack van Poortvliet and James Whitcombe, and by players who have made their senior debuts in recent weeks during the Premiership Rugby Cup campaign.
The initial idea for a Youth team came from the Leicestershire Schools Under-15 squad in the early 70s, with scrum-half Steve Kenney captain in that first game on this date 50 years ago.
