Welsh Exiles

About the Exiles

The Welsh Exiles was established in 1990 to search for Welsh players, or players of Welsh ancestry, living outside of the homeland. Brigadier Rolph James was appointed as chairman with Terry Cobner appointed as the first Exiles coach. The Welsh Exiles are based at the English National League Division One club London Welsh.

The initial games played by the Welsh Exiles involved senior players who played for English clubs with the occasional player being brought over from France. As the game evolved in Wales, the requirements of the Exiles changed and the search for talented players changed to the search for talented youngsters up to 21 years of age. The first player to be capped for Wales whilst playing in England at U21 level was Colin Charvis, who went on to play for and captain Wales, in addition to becoming a British Lion.

The role of the Exiles changed with the inception of professionalism and the search for promising players was narrowed to a younger age group. Today, the Exiles concentrate their resources in searching for talented young men at U15 level through to U18 level, with players often fed into the Dragons region. However, senior players are constantly monitored as Ben Broster found out in the summer of 2005 when he was capped by Wales on the Welsh tour of USA and Canada - his last cap for Wales was when he was a schoolboy.

Other examples of high-profile Exiles include Tom Shanklin, who hails from London and Saracens, as he progressed through the Exiles to international and Lions honours. Ospreys' hooker Huw Bennett attended an English school and played for the Exiles before returning to Wales and gaining caps for the national side.

Departmental Staff