‘You give everything in that first scrum’: meet Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Sale and England’s killer child Shark

Some of English rugby union’s greatest names can be entrance and centre in Salford on Friday night. Maro Itoje, Jamie George, Ben Earl and Tom Willis all get started for Saracens whilst Tom Curry, George Ford and Luke Cowan-Dickie, amongst others, will trot out for Sale Sharks. Most 20-year-old props, invited to combine in such lofty corporate, could be feeling critically intimidated.

It is increasingly more glaring, then again, that younger Asher Opoku-Fordjour is other gravy. As any person who noticed his attention-grabbing efficiency in opposition to Harlequins remaining weekend can be conscious, his energy and bullocking presence with ball in hand are somewhat one thing. “If last week’s anything to go by he’s tracking well, isn’t he?” nods Alex Sanderson, the Sharks’ director of rugby.

In fact, that’s striking it mildly. Opoku-Fordjour is already the youngest English prop in historical past to win a global cap and his have an effect on in Sale’s 43-29 win underlined precisely why. Could that in point of fact be a prop bursting throughout the midfield like an inside-centre and eluding part a dozen would-be tacklers? And therefore including a take a look at for just right measure? “It went very well, didn’t it?” says the tough ‘baby’ Shark, chuckling on the reminiscence. “I had a few special moments which I’m going to remember.”

Which raises the age-old query about younger gamers within the speedy wake of a standout efficiency. Can they mirror it, specifically in a pivotal fixture like this? The winners can be just about odds-on to make the playoffs, the losers slightly much less so. Unlike a few of this season’s extra freewheeling Premiership contests, this one has a correctly gritty really feel to it.

It is quietly revealing, then, to seek out Opoku-Fordjour critically up for the combat. “Teams know they have to front up against us because we’ll come out very physical. I feel like they have an extra edge against us. But that makes us more hungry to go after them.” So what’s going to his mindset be on the all-important first scrum in opposition to a Sarries pack with critical heft? “In my head I’m thinking ‘I want to dominate this’. In that first scrum you want to give everything you’ve got. But then it’s more a case of ‘How am I going to dominate this? How else can I get around them to get on top of them?’”

A pondering guy’s prop, via the sound of it, in addition to a dynamic one. His talent to play on each the tighthead and loosehead facets and likewise be a power across the box has up to now been dubbed “as rare as teddy bear shit” via Sanderson. That spectacular bundle puts him amongst a precocious posse of up-and-coming English forwards with actual possible: Opoku-Fordjour, Henry Pollock, Afolabi Fasogbon, Junior Kpoku et al. Let’s simply say England’s Under-20 World Cup triumph remaining 12 months had some thrilling foundations.

For the time being, although, Opoku-Fordjour’s hardest opponent is his kitchen cooker as he pursues the 115kg goal weight he believes will very best swimsuit his top-level ambitions. Having been introduced up within the Midlands, his relocation north to Manchester approach he can not simply depend on his mom’s Ghanaian-influenced cooking. “I’m not the best chef, that’s the problem,” he confesses. “But I’ve been working on my skills and I’m getting better. The other day I had sweet potatoes, mince, a few eggs and some broccoli. That was nice.”

Sanderson, although, is alert to the problem – “Sometimes I have to send him home with food” – and sees it as a part of the educational curve all younger gamers will have to negotiate. While giving his participant the former week off paid impressive dividends in opposition to Quins, that’s not at all times conceivable. As Sanderson places it: “What I find with young players is that’s it’s not until they have a rest that they grow. The mind is expanded, they come back and they’re better again. I’d love him to score a try and do barnstorming runs past six defenders every week. I’m not sure that’ll happen but he’s got it in him.”

England obviously suppose likewise, even though they fancy Opoku-Fordjour as a loosehead whilst Sale want him dressed in No 3. What isn’t in query is the all-round talent, that for a temporary duration in his Wasps academy days, he was once vulnerable to squandering. “When I was in my first year at college I was in the Wasps ACE programme. One of my coaches gave me a kick up the arse. He said: ‘You’re talented but you’re not working hard enough. If you want to get a contract you’ve got to step it up.’ I feel like that’s what I needed.”

Now right here he’s as an absolutely fledged England world, having made his debut off the bench in opposition to Japan remaining autumn. There have inevitably been blips, now not least in a heavy defeat via Northampton remaining October, however they have got been tutorial. “I’ve had a few games when I’ve probably got a bit frustrated. That Northampton game was pretty tough and I lost my head a little bit. The mental side is massive. If you’re distracted by something that happened two phases ago it can take you away from the next job at hand.”

As the youngest of 4 brothers, Opoku-Fordjour is no less than neatly used to status up for himself. His oldest sibling is an artist – “I don’t have an artistic side, I think that got lost somewhere” – whilst any other performs for Coventry within the Championship and there was once quite a lot of play-fighting again within the day. “They threw me about a bit and I don’t think I ever won. I’d like to see how it would go down now, though.”

Of extra speedy worry, then again, is subduing Itoje, George, Earl, Willis and co. Sanderson, who spent a few years at Saracens, is aware of exactly what’s coming. “I’ve been in that establishment. They – and we – understand that it’s not just the team who finds form that wins cups but the one that keeps improving at the back end of the season. When people talk about anything beyond Friday night I get unbelievably anxious because I know how dangerous they are.”

Sale’s forwards, although, have just lately been flexing their muscle groups and Opoku-Fordjour, for one, is probably not taking a backward step. “We’re definitely peaking at the right moment. We also appreciate our fans turning up every week because it helps so much and gives us the energy we need. The Premiership’s very tight … it’s about which team can be consistently good. We just need to keep trying to be that team. Then, hopefully, we’ll get where we need to be.”