Rising Welsh teen who made rugby history signs deal with English giants (original) (raw)

A young Welsh prop who previously made rugby history has signed his first deal with English giants Exeter Chiefs.

The Gallagher Premiership club have brought through a number of Welsh players in recent years, with their relationship with Exeter University proving fruitful for the likes of Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza.

Young tighthead prop Isaac Godfrey, who started his rugby with Senghenydd RFC, is one of seven aspiring players to have penned deals with Exeter.

Godfrey had previously been a junior academy player at Cardiff, having played at under-16s and under-18s level for the Arms Park side.

While there, he also played for Llandaff Cathedral and Whitchurch High School. He has also represented Cardiff Schools.

The hope had been that Godfrey would attend Cardiff Met, but he decided to seek a different opportunity - heading to Exeter University after leaving Whitchurch this summer.

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Since heading to Devon, he had featured in one BUCS fixture for Exeter University, crossing for a try in the win over Loughborough last month.

In his fledgling rugby career, Godfrey has also made history, becoming the first player to score for the Barbarians U18s team. That happened last year, when he burrowed over for an early try in a special fixture against Rugby School to celebrate the 200th anniversary of William Webb Ellis picking up the ball and running with it - with Godfrey also named player of the match.

All seven snapped up by Exeter already possess experience within the Chiefs Academy or the DPP programme of Chiefs’ development pathway.

“This group of lads is a perfect indicator of our pathway and academy really working across all systems and all entry points,” said Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter.

“There’s a nice mixture of guys who have come through our academy long term, from being based in Devon and Cornwall with our centres in Truro and Exeter. There are also guys who have taken the opportunity from outside the area to come to the university and some others who we’ve actively looked to recruit to bring them into our pathway.

“It’s a really good mix of everything we’re trying to put in place for our young guys. All of them are taking different opportunities in different ways, and we think they’re going to be a really strong academy group. And we’d really love to see them all featuring in the first team – particularly at Premiership and Champions Cup level – in the next few years.”

Those at Cardiff who worked closely with Godfrey are understood to be delighted with how quickly he has progressed, as they wish him the best.

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