THE conveyor belt of talent that is delivering a steady flow of talented youngsters into the Worcester Warriors first XV is going from strength to strength, according to Sixways academy manager Andrew Stanley.

Former Gloucester player Stanley and his assistant Gary Meechan have nurtured the likes of Tom Wood, Miles Benjamin and Matt Mullan into the Warriors first team and the duo believe there are plenty more to follow.

The Warriors academy is the envy of many in the Guinness Premiership and Stanley plans to keep discovering the stars of tomorrow.

The level five RFU coach said: “You’ll have good and bad years — peaks and troughs with talent — but we’re in a bit of a purple patch at the moment and long may it continue.

“We’ve been very fortunate with the quality of players we’ve had through our academy.

“Our recruitment process is done through the Elite Player Development (EPD) groups and we’ve got a number of centres spread throughout the West Midlands.

“We’ve got one at Telford and others at Old Swinford Hospital School, Bromsgrove, Warwick and Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School.

“Lads are nominated into those centres from the age of 14 onwards when we get them over to Worcester on a reasonably regular basis to compare and contrast with what we’ve already got in the academy.

“Then, once they leave school, they can come to us as full academy members.”

In recent years, Warriors have seen hot prosepcts Dylan Hartley, James Percival and Richard Blaze cherry-picked from their academy by Premiership rivals.

However, Stanley, who joined Worcester in January 2005, believes his track record of converting youngsters into first-team contenders can convince the starlets their futures lie at Sixways.

He added: “I’d like to think Guinness Premiership clubs poaching our academy players is a thing of the past now.

“We’ve been victim to poaching in the past, but that is one of those things — it is about what’s in front of us now.

“All of the lads who’ve been offered first-team contracts following their time with the academy have stayed at Worcester even though other clubs were interested. You’d like to think that is a good indication for the future for us.”

For Stanley, there is no higher gratification than seeing the youngsters he and his team have nurtured making a name for themselves in the game.

He said: “Ultimately, seeing the boys run out and have a significant impact for the first team gives us a tremendous amount of job satisfaction.

“It is a real buzz to see the boys you’ve worked with for two, three or four years getting their opportunity.

“We’d like to think people like Miles, Matt and Tom are close to an England Saxons call. We’ve got Graham Kitchener, who is another with outstanding potential, and hopefully international recognition isn’t too far away for a few of the players if they continue to develop in the same vein.

“To have someone come through the ranks to win international recognition would be a fantastic buzz for the whole club and the supporters.”