The kid who's with an academy side. I'd tell him to forget about impressing a scout. He should be impressing the coaches at the side he's playing at, and learning to cope with the jealousy that comes from the other players.

The kid who is not with a club. I'd tell him to not worry about impressing a scout, because he could have just put up the best 20 minutes of rugby in his life, the next 10 minutes could be spent recovering, and those 10 minutes could be when the scout decided to turn up, make quick judgements and leave. I'd tell him that if he wants to be a RL player then get himself along to a SL club with a good rep for youth development and ask to train with the academy lads for a month to show that he skills that they might be able to use.

thanks everyone for your help will be really useful for the lads, will pass it on. Much appreciated.

No it is very rare that a player who has the ability is missed. It might be that you see a player and think that he has the ability but the club thinks the other. They are proffesional scouts who look for specific things in players. They even want to see parents and grandparents to look at size and possible development.
We all think we can pick out a great player at 15, but the clubs can pick a great player at 25 when he is 15 that is the difference.

It isn't rare. I'm not talking great players, because there are very few of those in the first place, this is about standard/average players. There are plenty of those knocking around who haven't been selected by scouts. Partly because scouting is more an art than a science but also as I mentioned before luck plays a huge part in it. If the scout comes to watch and the player has a poor game, if the player is in a side that's getting hammered every week, if the player is at a club that doesn't get as much attention from the scouts or a club that plays at a lower level. Not to mention the fact that people develop at different rates, some flourish at 15-18 and develop their athleticism and confidence at that age, others it happens later.

The scouts will get some, but there's plenty of others knocking around who could have done just as well as some of those selected by scouts, especially in the "less popular" amateur clubs and leagues and those outside the traditional areas.

Yeah there aren't many Sam Tomkins or Kallum Watkins' out there but every club has average players in their team, often second rowers used as tackling machines. Plenty of players could fill that role.

My bro played over 500 SL games, played for GB/England over 40 times, won the SL a few times and appeared in a few Challenge Cup finals, winning one.

He had a pretty good RL career IMO.

If a scout ever looked at my brother, we never knew about it.