‘Without a doubt’ – Martin Offiah on son Tyler’s England hopes and why Bath is a ‘great place’ for his career to develop
Martin and son Tyler Offiah after Bath match.
Tyler Offiah continued his rise to prominence on Saturday by scoring his second competitive senior try for Bath as he edges closer to a full Premiership debut.
The 18-year-old winger notched a delightful effort at the Rec as a youthful Bath side beat Championship outfit Ampthill 50-7 in the Premiership Rugby Cup to secure a quarter-final spot.
Offiah signed for Bath last summer after attracting interest from Premiership rivals Leicester Tigers, Gloucester and Sale Sharks plus rugby league giants Wigan Warriors.
The teenager is combining his rugby commitments with a degree at Bath University and has been involved with England‘s U20s squad.
Backs his son
Dad Martin, the legendary former rugby league winger who scored an incredible 501 career tries during a highly distinguished career, believes Tyler can go all the way to the top.
His try against Ampthill saw him support an attack 40 metres out and then show blistering speed to outpace a visiting defender before racing over the line.
Offiah Snr told Planet Rugby: “Every time that Tyler scores, we grade each try on a scale of one to five.
“One is a simple finish, two is a good finish, three is normally a support try, four is when you bust the line and score, and then five is what I call a ‘worldie’.
“I classed the try he scored against Ampthill on Saturday as a 4.5 because he had to beat the full-back to score after breaking the line.
“By doing this, it gets him to think about all the different types of try you can score as a winger.
“It’s about having a mindset of where you can get the ball in different positions to give yourself a potential try-scoring opportunity.
“He watches a lot of my old footage and videos of Chris Ashton, who brought a lot of that thinking into rugby union from rugby league to become very successful.
“But Tyler is only 18 and when I was his age I was still at school, so he’s scoring tries against men and is ahead of where I was at that age.”
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At 6ft 3in, the teenage Offiah is imposing and he was unstoppable as he galloped through the Ampthill defence to score on Saturday.
He announced his precocious talent when scoring against Munster in a pre-season friendly and against Bristol Bears in the Premiership Rugby Cup in November.
“When I played, it was about me not getting caught when I had the ball but Tyler has the physicality to go with his pace,” added his father.
“Even if a defender gets his hand on him, they’re probably still not going to bring him down because of his size.
“In four years’ time, he will still only be 22 and Bath is a great place for Tyler to learn his trade.”
Johann van Graan’s men are six points clear at the Premiership summit as they bid to win the club’s first league title since 1996.
Offiah, whose younger son – 15-year-old Phoenix – signed for Tottenham Hotspur Academy last week, added: “Bath are on the rise and have signed Henry Arundell from next season.
“There is a lot of talent within their youth ranks so on all fronts they’re building.
“They’ve got such a fantastic squad and it’s great place for Tyler to learn his trade and keep developing.
“He’s waiting to hear if he will get selected for this weekend’s Premiership Rugby Cup game at Bristol Bears.”
Having already represented England at youth level, Tyler is being tipped to make the grade in the senior side one day.
England hope
Martin added: “Has Tyler got the potential to play for England? Without a doubt.
“From a very early age, we knew he had something and you could see his credentials with the way he scored his try on Saturday.
“It’s down to him now to put the work in and hopefully he will get the breaks because he has the talent – but we also have to remember he’s still only 18.
“I believe he could play in the Premiership now but he’s still got to develop and keep going on the path that he’s on.”
