WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A PREMIERSHIP TALENT-SPOTTER

Harlequins scout Clive Martin explains how to identify young talent

- Alan Pearey

TEN YEARS ago we featured rugby scout Clive Martin, then working for Northampton Saints. Given the next generation' theme of this issue, we got back in touch with Martin, now 71 and on the books of Harlequins as a part-time talent-spotter.

A lot has changed since 2013. Whereas Martin was once free to roam the country he even drove to Swansea to watch Dan Biggar as a teenager (the Welshman decided to stay put) - now he's restricted to watching schools and clubs in Sussex and Surrey, the counties affiliated to Harlequins.

When we ring he's just returned from a poignant London to Paris cycle ride in aid of the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation. His friend Chris Matthews, a former Buckingham RUFC team-mate, died from MND shortly before Martin completed the challenge.

We should say straight up that Martin is not claiming to have unearthed a host of Quins stars. He's watched a large number of current first-teamers, such as Marcus Smith, Cadan Murley, Jack Kenningham, Louis Lynagh and Fin Baxter, but all were already 'in the system' when he did so. You suspect that a player like Smith, who he first met standing on the touchline at Brighton College nursing a broken arm, would be impossible to miss. He was always going to play elite rugby, scout or not.

"Clubs have got a lot better organised. Not just Quins, most clubs seem to get players in from the coaches who are in their academy set-up," says Martin, who was hugely influenced by the great Jim Greenwood at Loughborough.