JAMES Whitcombe was born and brought up in Yorkshire, but Leicester was the only club the prop wanted to play for.
His father, Martin, was a prop at Welford Road in the 1980s and Whitcombe comes from a celebrated rugby family. His grandfather, Frank Jr, was a prop who played union for Bradford and Keighley while his great-grandfather, Frank, was a Welshman who had stints with Cardiff and London Welsh before turning professional.
He played for Broughton Rangers and Bradford Northern, capped by Wales and Great Britain and regarded as one of the best front row forwards to play the game.
His great-grandson has established himself in Leicester’s first-team squad this season, enjoying a run of starts with Ellis Genge away on England duty.
“I am getting game time and coming up against opponents like Vincent Koch, learning as much as I can,” said the 21-year-old Whitcombe who, along with Freddie Steward and George Martin, both since capped by England, won back-to-back Premiership U18 titles while in Leicester’s academy.
“I want to play every week and get exposure. When you train with players like Dan Cole, Ellis and Julian Montoya, you can only improve. Attention to detail is the biggest thing and taking everything from week to week.”
Whitcombe made his first start for the Tigers last November against Sale in the Premiership Cup – in the back row.
“Steve Borthwick (the head coach) pulled me in on the Monday morning and said a few back rowers were injured. It was a different role, one in which you had to get around the park. I really enjoyed it, but I will not be making the move from the front row.
“I first came to a game at Leicester when I was 12. My dad (below) had friends at the club and I ended up in the academy. It meant we spent a fair bit of time in the car, but the pull of Leicester was massive.
“My dad played here and it will always be my club. I played league for three or four years, but in school it was union and it was the route I always wanted to take.”
Genge is leaving Leicester at the end of the season to return to Bristol, but Whitcombe said he was not thinking about replacing the club captain in the side.
“We still have a long way to go this season,” he said. “It is a matter of taking each game as it comes and see where we are at the end of it. For me, it is about picking the brains of the great front rowers we have here.”
Whitcombe is one of a number of young players given their chance by Borthwick who said: “James is doing really well and growing fast as a player. He has fantastic experience around him and the key is to keep learning.
“We have had to put young players in because of the constraints from the middle of 2020 and the reshaping of the squad. It is all about them wanting to get better.”
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