Bridgend Ravens head coach Scott Baldwin believes he has found two future Wales internationals, with one reminding him of Wales star Dewi Lake.
While the former Wales hooker's immediate focus is on leading Bridgend to success in this season's Super Rygbi Cymru, he also sees a responsibility to nurture the next generation of professional players.
Baldwin believes tighthead Callum Donoghue-Proud, 20, and hooker McKenzie Scales, 18, have the potential to make their mark with the Ospreys in the years ahead.
High praise for young front-rowers
"We've signed a boy Callum Donoghue-Proud from Cardiff," said Baldwin. "I said if you can become a consistent scrummager I genuinely believe in four years you can become a Test player, not just a regional player, because of your size profile, your attitude, your commitment and how physical you are."
"I've spoken to the Ospreys about him. He's now on an academy contract with the Ospreys which is great. I get to work with him in the Ospreys environment in my new role developing front-rowers which is brilliant for me because I get to genuinely work with a player I believe can be professional."
"It's the same with the hooker McKenzie Scales who is slightly different to Tom Howe in terms of his profile but he's got a very similar level where I see his ceiling could be. He's probably similar to Dewi Lake. I would say Tom Howe is a bigger version of Dane Coles in that he's athletic on the edge, whereas MacKenzie is more Dewi in that he's very direct, gets you good metres and gets you good jackles."
Scales' early push
Baldwin is confident there are a handful of players in his Bridgend squad who could play for the Ospreys this season.
"Last year I pushed for Mckenzie Scales to play for us early," he said. "Front-rowers can't play SRC until they are 18 but backs can at 17. He was 118 kilos playing youth rugby. For me that wasn't benefiting his development. I'd seen him and he'd been down training with us but he wasn't allowed to play. The day he turned 18 I was like 'we need him'. That weekend after his birthday he came off the bench against Newport for us."
"The Ospreys academy manager called me and asked me how did he do. I said 'mate, I can't tell you I've ever seen an 18-year-old be the most physical player on the pitch.' He's got a lot of growth. He's probably from a developmental, physically and professionalism point of view quite far behind someone like Tom Howe. But he is training with the first team at Ospreys at the moment so he's getting that understanding of what it means to be a professional rugby player. I think he has such a huge ceiling."
Other prospects in the squad
Baldwin also highlighted other players in his squad with professional potential.
"I think Ben Evans (full-back) has the ability to be there from what I've seen from him but that will be determined by how many Ospreys players are selected for Wales and injuries. But he's training with the Ospreys first team now and I think he has the ability to become a professional rugby player which is huge."
"Our full-back Fraser Jones has also gone up and trained with the Ospreys all pre-season."
