England Academy travel to France on Saturday to take on the French ‘Espoirs’ (Under 19s) in Saint-Gaudens.
The Academy is part of the RFL's performance pathway, which also includes England Knights and the senior men's squad. Several members of the current England squad are graduates of this pathway, including Leeds Rhinos' Harry Newman and Mikolaj Oledzki, Matty Lees and Lewis Dodd of St Helens, and Wigan Warriors' Liam Marshall and Harry Smith.
It’s a pathway not only for the best of England’s emerging playing talent – it’s a development platform for coaches too. One that benefits coaches, club and country. It’s a virtuous circle.
Academy head coach and head of England pathways, Paul Anderson, needs little introduction. But what about his assistant coaches Shane Eccles and Rob Nickolay, who also coach Lancashire and Yorkshire respectively?
Eccles has been working within the Wigan Warriors scholarship and academy system since 2015, and as academy head coach guided his team to the Grand Final glory in 2019. Now, as head of youth, Eccles manages player progression and pathways at a club renowned the world over for its talent development.
Nickolay arrived at Castleford Tigers via three Hull clubs – one of them Hull City FC.
“I played rugby at community level” Rob explains, “but I picked up a fair few injuries and didn't scale the heights I’d have liked to. I started playing football and I got an opportunity to go into coaching through the foundation at Hull City. I got to Level 3 as a football coach and became the youngest coach to work on an international programme for the Premier League. I even spent time coaching in India for the British Council.”
Nickolay, the youngest coach to achieve Level 4 qualification, found his way back into Rugby League as player performance manager at Hull KR. It was his involvement in the short-lived City of Hull Academy, a Hull FC/Hull KR joint venture that would eventually lead, VIA Hull FC, to his appointment at Castleford.
“Myself and Danny Wilson were was tasked with setting up the City of Hull Academy and we enjoyed some success there. Players like Mikey Lewis, Jordan Lane, Jack Brown and Elliott Wallace came through that programme. When Danny went to Castleford Tigers, he was really keen for me to work with him again.”
Nickolay joined Wilson at Castleford in 2021, just after the Tigers had lost their Elite Academy licence. 18 months of hard work later, the club had earned its licence once more – due in no small part to the efforts of head of youth Rob.
“My remit was clear” says Rob, “to make sure we not only achieved a licence, but exceed one. I'm passionate about youth development and I want us to be the blueprint of what talent development looks like.”
Part of Nickolay’s role is to make sure that anybody in the Castleford area who picks up a rugby ball has a development pathway – a pathway that leads all the way to the top of the tree: the England senior sides.
Nickolay’s involvement on a national level began alongside Steve McCormack with England Community Lions, as the community game re-emerged after the coronavirus pandemic.
“Steve was great for me”, Rob reflects. “I wasn’t in the game full time at that point, so I was really happy to be able to coach again. We went to Wales, had a great time down there and won the match.
“As well as Steve, I worked with the RFL’s Dave Elliott in the past when he managed the national academy programme. Now here I am working with Paul Anderson in the England pathways programme.
“The networking side of things is great”, says Rob, “working with different people and now learning from Paul. The detail he has for the game is outstanding. I’m making notes like crazy – ideas I’ll take back to Castleford. Sometimes it’s like fireworks going off in your head, changes I can make to the way we work at the club.”
The third and final match of the 2023 Academy Origin series takes place at St Helens on Friday 18 August. Rob Nickolay’s Yorkshire side will be looking to tie the series after losing to Shane Eccles’s Lancashire in first encounter at Castleford and drawing the second game at Hull KR.
