The little wave has already gone into West Country rugby folklore. It was meant as a send-off; a parting gesture, but it could just as well signify a momentous arrival.
Gloucester’s rookie prop, Afolabi Fasogbon, made a name for himself at Ashton Gate on Friday night, with his striking cameo against Bristol.
First came the muscular impact; two scrum penalties at the expense of Ellis Genge. Then came the cheeky response, which went down a storm on social media, as the experienced England vice-captain was swiftly taken off and the monstrous novice raised his right hand in a farewell flourish.
To Genge’s credit, he sought out his young adversary after the final whistle, for a mock spar, a few words of encouragement and a hug. He doubtless recognised the emergence of a new front-row star in the making.
Gloriously, Fasogbon is not the only one. Sound the bugle, the cavalry are coming. With impeccable timing, a new generation of English talent is bursting through at tighthead, where the situation has become critical.
Afolabi Fasogbon (pictured) made a huge impact off the bench for Gloucester on Friday
He waved goodbye to England and Bristol prop Ellis Genge after getting the better of him before his opposite number was taken off
Steve Borthwick is keeping a close eye on Fasogbon ahead of England’s autumn internationals
The great Dan Cole can’t go on much longer, at the age of 37. Kyle Sinckler fell out of favour and has moved to Toulon in France. Successors have struggled to take ownership of a pivotal position and England are on the hunt for young giants who can build new, powerful foundations.
Just days after national coach Steve Borthwick ended the senior-team tour of Japan and New Zealand by launching an urgent search for new tightheads, the country’s Under 20s won the junior World Cup – a feat founded on pack power. Mark Mapletoft’s side conquered all-comers in Cape Town, armed with an imperious scrum, and now the mainstays of that campaign are lighting up the new Gallagher Premiership season.
Fasogbon only turned 20 last month. He weighs 130kg – 20-and-a-half stone – meaning he is the sort of fearsome physical specimen rugby coaches dream about. France, South Africa and other nations have such colossal props, but England have not been blessed with any, until now. When he sat in the stand at Kingsholm for a chat with Mail Sport, the sight of his enormous frame crammed into a seat designed for normal-size humans was quite something to behold.
For his club’s league opener, at home against Saracens, he started and coped well, not least when winning a breakdown penalty. Then last Friday, he bulldozed through Genge to further enhance his burgeoning reputation – not bad for a football-loving Londoner who has only specialised as a prop for a few years.
After a two-year stint at Saracens amateurs, Fasogbon played county rugby then earned a place at the prolific London Irish academy. ‘It was clear that I would end up being a tighthead,’ he said, having started out at lock and then played at No 8 before finding his true home. ‘I had to learn how to scrum in the front row and I’m still developing that. It’s a new and interesting challenge. It feels like this is what I’m made to do; play at tighthead.
‘What you have to learn is technical, it’s about physicality and mind-set as well. Then there’s work in the gym on my core, my neck and my back, with key lifts like my squatting dead lift; chasing big numbers for those, to be able to help me on the pitch. My dead lift is 340kg for a single (lift).’
Waving at the departing Genge may suggest that Fasogbon is a cocky character, but he is not. He is far more inclined to be laughing – rather than goading – not least when recalling the raucous, victorious England Under 20 flight home from South Africa. Asked if they were accorded the deserved honour of an upgrade to business class, he roared with amusement.
When London Irish went out of business at the end of the 2022-23 season, Fasogbon had offers from various clubs. He chose Gloucester, knowing that he would be able to work with a forwards coach in Trevor Woodman who was a World Cup-winning England prop. So, has he shown the apprentice his winner’s medal yet? More wild laughter.
Fasogbon has already thrived for England at youth level and looks ready to make the step up
George Skivington, the West Country club’s director of rugby, has backed Fasogbon in selection and emphasised that the breakthrough prospect is also in an ideal place to hone his craft, which he does with a strong work ethic. ‘I take a lot of pride in coaching set piece,’ he said. ‘I’ve got really high hopes for Afo, but he has impressed me more than I anticipated at this early stage.
‘The England rugby team or any rugby team has to have a good set piece. We take it very seriously. Afo has bought into it. He knows where he wants to get to. The first thing is to make the Gloucester No 3 shirt his own. I’ve given him an opportunity straight away. That is a commitment from our side and I think he will thrive.’
Also thriving, at Sale, is Fasogbon’s fellow prop from the England Under 20s – Asher Opoku-Fordjour. In fact, he has already done enough, after coming to the fore last season, to earn himself a box-office nickname. ‘They call me “Ash Beast”,’ he said – speaking to Mail Sport at Sale’s training ground. Then came the clarification: ‘I don’t call myself that! I call myself Ash.’
When Opoku-Fordjour started being picked for his club last season, he started winning scrum penalties from the off – against a roll-call of pedigree props. He took that domestic form into the junior World Cup and demonstrated his versatility; excelling and dominating at loosehead, having packed down at tighthead for Sale.
He spoke passionately about the aggressive mind-set among Mapletoft’s forwards. ‘Once we were scrumming, we were scrumming for a penalty,’ he said. ‘Everyone loved it! That pack wanted to dominate set piece and we did that.’
Asher Opoku-Fordjour (pictured) is another young, exciting prop coming through
He has also looked the real deal when playing for England’s youth teams
When pressed on what it feels like to realise the opposition are there for the taking, Opoku-Fordjour added: ‘You just feel that you are the dominant man and you’ve got one over that person in front of you. It feels good. You can feel people’s panic – it shows on their face. Some people are good at hiding it, but some aren’t. The main time you can feel someone’s panic is when you are consistently just going over them and they can’t do anything about it.’
Fasogbon described his much lighter team-mate from the Under 20s as ‘freakishly strong’ and that is part of what has made Opoku-Fordjour such a force in the scrum at such a young age. Another asset is his ability to absorb positive examples of what he should be doing.
‘When I watch people do stuff, I can pick it up pretty quickly,’ he said. ‘For example, watching Nick Schonert in the scrum here (at Sale), I pick up all the stuff he does best in the scrum. I watch Tadhg Furlong too and see what he does – and I feel like it just sticks in my brain.
‘In the gym, I work on neck strength, core strength and my quads too. I am trying to get bigger at the minute, so I’m in the gym four times a week. I’m trying to reach 115kg by the end of the season. At the moment, I’m 112kg, so I want to add three kilos. I’m building up slowly. I don’t want to be too heavy; I want to be a good weight where I can move and also scrum well.’
Opoku-Fordjour is content to remain versatile, as a prop who can pack down on either side of the front row – rather than concentrating solely on one side at this stage. His aim is to kick on from his promising career lift-off, saying: ‘I want this season to be a breakthrough season for me.’
According to his director of rugby at Sale, he is already showing signs of further progress since the World Cup success. Alex Sanderson said: ‘He looks stronger, more physical and he is moving better than he was before. He is a bit ahead of where we predicted him to be.
‘He’s a lovely guy, quite humble, and he has a good look about him. Adidas are knocking on the door because he’s a good bastion for the modern game; a tighthead who can run like a winger and looks cool in a pair of Adidas trainers!’
The good news for Borthwick is that the cavalry charge isn’t limited to two outstanding prospects. At Bath, they have high hopes for Vilikesa ‘Billy’ Sela – so much so that he has been picked in his club’s matchday 23 at the age of just 19 to take on Leicester on Sunday afternoon.
Vilikesa ‘Billy’ Sela (pictured) is the third young prop on England’s radar
Bath’s director of rugby Johann van Graan (pictured) has hailed Sela as a ‘real prospect’
It was expected that another key figure in the triumphant, imperious Under 20s pack would have to go out on loan, but his club intend to fast-track him this season.
‘He’s a real prospect,’ said Johann van Graan, Bath’s director of rugby. ‘He’s playing one of the most difficult positions, so he’s got to learn a lot, quickly, but we have deliberately signed a tighthead less because we want to get Billy through.
‘I see real strength in him. The important thing in that position is to play him with the right hooker, the right tighthead lock behind him and the right flanker, so you don’t throw him to the wolves with a young front row against a specific opposition away from home. We’re going to look after him.’
They all need looking after and carefully nurturing, to maximise their supreme potential. These props and so many others from the Under 20s need senior game-time, but they also need to be deployed at the right times, in the right company. Mapletoft will be working with Sela again this season – and will follow the progress of the whole, thunderous cohort with interest, affection and real hope.
‘They have come through with a flourish,’ he told Mail Sport. ‘It’s only going to benefit the senior team in the long run. What I know about scrummaging could be written on the back of a stamp, but even I came to love scrummaging over the summer. It was such a great asset for us.
‘Those lads, in their age group, really excelled, and it’s no surprise that they are getting a serious look-in, a couple of months after we came back. They offer other things, outside of just the scrum. They are very good defenders and very good ball players. They offer a carry threat too.’
So, does he believe that any of the prop prodigies – especially Fasogbon or Opoku-Fordjour – could earn a senior call-up soon? ‘They could,’ added Mapletoft. ‘It’s not that common in the front row, and certainly not at prop, but the seniors might want to consider Asher or Afo for the ‘A’ team game against Australia next month, now that they are playing in the Prem.’
That would be a logical next step, but Borthwick may see enough to consider adding one of them to his full, senior squad ahead of the autumn Tests. These new, rising giants are still honing their craft, they are not the complete package yet, but they have the precious size, clout and raw front-row X-factor which England need.
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