Scarlets and the Welsh Rugby Union officially launched the Emerging Player Programme (EPP) for the 2026-27 season with more than 250 players attending an educational and training day at Parc y Scarlets.
The EPP, jointly led by the Scarlets and the WRU, is for players between 14 and 16 years old from our five schools districts – Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthen, Mynydd Mawr & Dinefwr and Llanelli – and feeds into the U16s national Dewar Shield competition.
The launch day focused on a new EPP curriculum with a presentation on nutrition, a speed session and a fundamental skills session delivered by our full-time Scarlets Academy staff, who were assisted by the EPP coaches.
The players then watched the Scarlets senior team train and prepare ahead of their pre-season game against Exeter Chiefs last weekend.
Three staff CCD (Continuing Coach Development) sessions have also taken place with three more to come.
Scarlets Academy Pathway Manager Emyr Phillips said: “It was a great day to bring everyone from our five centres together to outline our pathway and also give the boys an insight into the life of a professional rugby player.
“They had skills sessions with our full-time academy coaches and also were able to see how the senior squad prepares for a game.
“Since the EPP was introduced we have seen boys progress into Dewar Shield teams and into our age-grade squad and we look forward to working closely together with all the EPP coaches in the season ahead.”
As part of the EPP programme, the districts will play matches against each other at the end of each training block.
A large number of the current Scarlets squad and Senior Academy squad have emerged from the five schoolboy district teams who play in the historic Dewar Shield competition.
They include the likes of Wales internationals Joe Roberts (Llanelli), Ryan Elias and Eddie James (Carmarthen), Gareth Davies (Ceredigion), Josh Macleod (Pembrokeshire) as well as head coach Dwayne Peel (Mynydd Mawr & Dinefwr) and Academy coaches Tom Phillips and Phil John (Llanelli).