England Under 20s

Callum Braley

Key Facts

Squad	Bristol Rugby
Position	Scrum half
Age	19
Height	1.8m (5'11")
Weight	84kg (13st 3lb)
Caps	U20: 3

A taste of senior rugby has already whetted the appetite of Callum Braley, who at the age of 17, had played in two British & Irish Cup games for his home city club Bristol against Cornish Pirates and Ayr. He is now a first-year student in business management at the University of the West of England and became a new full-time member of the Bristol Rugby Academy last September. Callum was on a dual registration last season with Hartpury College, where he took A-levels in business studies, psychology and PE.

Callum was previously educated at Silverhill Primary at Winterbourne in South Gloucestershire and at Colston’s in Bristol. He has represented England U16, U17 and U18, together with Bristol Schools U15 and U16 and South West U16. His captaincy experience spans Colston’s age group sides over a nine-year period and Bristol Schools U16.

He took up the game at the age of five with St Mary’s Old Boys in Bristol, toured with the club to Treviso in 2005 and Brive four years later and in 2010 went to Rome with England U16. His father Stuart was club captain of Imperial in Bristol and then became Callum’s coach while his son played for St Mary’s.

Other mentors are Mike Hall and Matt Sherratt at the Bristol Academy and his college coaches Alan Martinovic and Barry Maddocks. In the build-up to the 2012 programme of U18 matches, he played against London Academies and Northampton Saints U19 before scoring a try from a deft off-load by Anthony Watson in the 18-16 win over France at Fylde in February last year. He added another in the 20-8 victory over Scotland at Hawick the following month before playing against Wales and Ireland as England lifted the FIRA/AER European Championship title in Madrid that April.

His maiden try for England U20 was in his second appearance when the side beat Italy 52-7 at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton in March this year.

Callum had already helped Hartpury College to win the AASE League in 2010-11 and the Bristol Schools Divisional Championship in 2010 when he was named as Bristol Young Player of Year. He has also represented Gloucestershire at age group cricket. His favourite players are Ruan Pienaar and Dimitri Yachvili because of their game management.