THE Butts Park Arena faithful have become used to their management team polishing rough diamonds into valuable jewels in recent seasons, writes Paul Smith.
With the assistance of boss Alex Rae plus coaches Gordon Ross and James Scaysbrook, Josh Bainbridge, Louis Brown and Tom Dodd all progressed to either Premiership or URC clubs at the end of last season.
Powerhouse centre Will Rigg has already followed suit by joining Exeter midway through this term with Cov’s outstanding 2023/24 campaign built around the likes of Will Wand, Tobi Wilson, Tom Ball and Obinna Nkwocha, all of whom are in their early-20s.
And it may just be that in the shape of 20-year-old back-rower Chester Owen the BPA conveyor belt has another prototype on its way to becoming a top-of-the-range model.
It is admittedly very early days for the former Leicester Academy youngster whose eight blue-and-white appearances include just one start.
But his ability to carry the ball in both close-quarter and open-field situations have already caught the eye.
His maiden Cov try, a brilliant 45-metre solo effort at Nottingham was a stunning way to get off the mark.
Owen was thrust into the spotlight at Lady Bay when Tiki Nayalo suffered a head injury at the end of the opening quarter and his boss had nothing but praise for the impact he made over the following 63 minutes.
Rae said: “I’m really pleased with how Chester is developing. He was released by Leicester but he is still very young and you can see his potential, in fact he is getting better by the week at the moment.
“I said to the other coaches this week that every time he carries the ball he is able to get across the gain line and as the supporters have seen when he gets into space he has some pace.
“We could have a real talent on our hands and it’s really exciting for us as a coaching group to have someone we can work with to add more to his game and develop him further.
“Chester had a few injury niggles in the early part of the season and missed a few weeks and he’s had a game or two out on loan but since he got an opportunity back with us he has taken it with both hands.”
Owen has in recent weeks usually packed down at flanker during his replacement cameos and he has also briefly pressed into second row service.
However, his head coach has no hesitation in identifying him as a natural for the no.8 shirt.
Rae added: “The raw ingredients are certainly there for him to be a really good, impactful ball-carrying back-rower.
“He could play on the blindside flank, but he’s a densely-built, powerful player who also moves really explosively so he looks to me like someone who has the ingredients to be an old-fashioned no.8.
“After another pre-season with us in this environment it’s quite exciting to think about where he could get to and I really believe he will make a few sit up and look in the next year or two.”
