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One cap England wing Thorley won't join Gloucester exodus
By Ian Cameron
Ollie Thorley will be plying his trade at Gloucester next season after the club confirmed that the one-cap England winger has extended his stay at Kingsholm.
Gloucester are rumoured to lose Billy Twelvetrees and Jordy Reid to a newly formed and merged Ospreys-Ealing club, but the 26-year-old Thorley is set to stay.
Thorley made his debut in March 2015 and quickly became the youngest first-team try scorer for the club when he crossed against Ospreys in the LV Cup.
He has since gone on to score over 30 tries for the Cherry & White, including a record-breaking 11 tries during the 2019/20 season, the highest-ever Premiership total by a Gloucester player.
Thorley also represented England at U18 and U20 level, winning the 2016 IRB Junior World Championship with the latter. He made his England debut against Italy in the 2020 Six Nations and is expected to earn more international honours soon. After recovering from an injury, he has been in top form, winning consecutive Stowford Press Player of the Match awards against London Irish and Saracens.
Gloucester Rugby Head Coach, George Skivington, commented: “We’re really pleased that Ollie has committed his future to the Club. He’s a leading example of a player that has developed in the Gloucester Rugby pathway and gone on to be a key figure in the first team.
“He’s naturally a very dangerous attacking player, but he’s always working to develop and grow his game which you can see in his performances this season.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Ollie represent this club for years to come.”
The flying winger’s try-scoring prowess led to him claiming the 2019-20 Gallagher Premiership’s top try scorer award after scoring 11 tries including a 4-try brace against Leicester Tigers.
Having risen through the Academy ranks, Thorley set the record for the youngest player to appear for Gloucester in the professional era when he partnered Mike Tindall in the centre against Northampton Saints in 2013 at the age of just 17.
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Latest Comments
It’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
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