World Cup winner Trevor Woodman is confident Afolabi Fasogbon will fulfil his early promise and become one of the game’s leading tight-head props.
Woodman is in his 11th year as Gloucester’s scrum coach having played for the club for the majority of his career, which culminated in World Cup final victory over Australia in 2003 when he was England’s loosehead.
He has overseen the development of the 20-year-old Fasogbon, who joined Gloucester last season after London Irish collapsed, and believes the prop had a chance of making England’s Six Nations squad but for an ankle injury he picked up in December.
Bright Future
“Afo has a massive future in the game and I hope it is all going to be at Gloucester,” said Woodman.
“He has all the ingredients of a modern front row forward.
“He is physically strong and we are looking to make him even stronger during his enforced break.
“He has got that desire to really want to do well. He pushes himself and those around him, he wants to go forward in every scrum and he has an inner belief he can become the best.
“It is incredible for a 20-year-old. The programme for props is a lot different to when I started playing, from training to learning so much more from coaches and the players around you. You pick up technical aspects much earlier than in the days when you just played.”
Injury
Fasogbon was listed among the players who were not considered because of injury when England announced their Six Nations squad, suggesting he would probably have been included had he been fit.
He was injured towards the end of the first-half in the victory over Harlequins at Kingsholm when he gave Fin Baxter, another young prop who achieved an early breakthrough and is in the England squad, a torrid time up front.
“Fin had probably not played giants Afo before and did not know what he was about,” said Woodman.
“Afo gave him a tough ride in one of his best performances of the season and he will have to be ready for the next battle with Fin who will look to work out how to deal with it.
“It was the best I had seen Afo scrummage and if he had backed it up in the next couple of games I am pretty certain he would have been included in the England squad.
“No matter how much the game has changed, if a prop cannot scrum they will struggle to get into any side.
“There is being able to hold your own and scrum decently and being able to dominate the opposition. The latter props are few and far between.
“We have a 20-year-old we hope will become dominant. We moved for him when Irish went under but he had other options, Saracens for one.
“That would have been the easy option for him because it was close to home and to come to Gloucester showed his character because it was a challenge for him off the field.
“We put a programme in front of him showing where we wanted to take him in the coming years. He bought into that and the rest is history.”
Young Props
Fasogbon is one of a number of young props who are making their mark. Asher Opoku-Fordjour is in the Six Nations squad, along with Baxter and Sale’s loose-head Bevan Rodd while Bath believe Billy Sela has a big future.
“We looked at trying to get Asher when Wasps folded,” said Woodman.
“Speaking to him you could feel his desire to be the best prop in England and with Afo having the same drive they will only spur each other on.
“England have a lot of strength in terms of the props who are coming through and the harder they push each other the better they will all become.
“You have to be sensible when it comes to playing young front rowers. I learned the hard way by playing and training.
“I had my head shoved up my backside several times by some tough old experienced props. It was unpleasant but you knew you had to learn to make sure it did not happen again.
“The quicker you did so, the more you progressed. I am massive when it comes to young props on making sure their neck, spine and trunk are in a good position strength-wise and that they can handle the pressures that come from playing in the front row.
“You want them all to have a long career and if we are selling the game of rugby as one for all shapes and sizes, the scrum, line-out and maul are every bit as important as attacking flair.
“A dominant scrum that takes the legs off the opposition frees up space elsewhere. I just wish we would sit down as a Premiership, get the referees on board and work out what we want from the scrum.”
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