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Meet the Death Metal-loving Swedish prop set for Leicester debut
By Jon Newcombe
Ale Loman will become the first male Swedish player to play for Leicester Tigers when he makes his debut for the club this weekend.
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Loman, 24, has been named as tight head prop for the Premiership Rugby Cup clash against Coventry at the Butts Park Arena on Saturday after just 16 games of professional rugby for the Tigers’ Championship partner club, Nottingham.
Capped 15 times by his country, Loman signed for Nottingham in June last year having caught the eye playing for the University of Nottingham in BUCS rugby.
Loman, who can play both sides of the scrum, came to the UK as an exchange student and was studying an MSc in Machine Learning and Computer Science, whilst also hoping to develop as a rugby player.
Previously, Loman had only played club rugby domestically, for his hometown club Lugi Lions, who are based in his birthplace Lund, a city located at the southern tip of Sweden.
A guitarist in the now-disbanded Swedish Death metal band called Bred, Loman has been the cornerstone of the Swedish national team’s pack in their rise up the world rankings under English coach Alex Laybourne.
He scored a viral, lung-bursting 50-metre try for Sweden in November last year and Laybourne is a staunch believer in his potential to go further in the game.
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“I’m very proud of where Ale has got to so far. He made his debut in my first test match in charge against Luxembourg in October 2021, and has been an ever-present since,” said Laybourne.
“Originally he played as an 8, but I moved him to prop and he hasn’t looked back, developing consistently and working hard on his game.
“He has a great willingness to learn and a desire to get better all the time; I believe he has a high ceiling and there is plenty more to come from him.”
As well as their ground-breaking loanee, the Tigers have brought Josh Bassett and Solomone Kata into their starting XV, with Finn Carnduff captaining the side again this week from the back row.
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Whoever wins Saturday’s Midlands derby is likely to progress through to the quarter-finals as one of the three best pool runners-up. Northampton are virtually assured of finishing top of Pool B.
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A well deserved Premiership club debut for Ale whom I was fortunate enough to see live in action in the Sweden v Czechia game in October where he put in a man of the match performance.
Sweden have two games left in their Rugby Europe Trophy campaign for 2024-25 - an away trip to Luxembourg before what could possibly be a Grand Slam decider at home to Poland at Pingvin’s new ground in Trelleborg, which is just over the Oresund from Copenhagen. Then in May Sweden are playing a combined Channel Islands XV at Guernsey. Highly recommend anyone who is slightly jaded with elite level rugby to come along to these games where they still play for the shirt.
I wonder what age he took up rugby. I imagine if you're really strong and the right body shape you could take up rugby in your early 20s and still have a professional career as a prop. Probably untrue of any other position. While having good rugby skills is obviously hugely important, so long as you're insanely strong with the potential to be a beast in the scrum, you could probably get by. Maybe clubs should start to raid the gyms of eastern Europe and Scandinavia…
How much does a pro prop earn? Not talking about the Genges, Furlongs or Du Toits of course. I mean, I see your point but what’s there to offer to a gym guy in his early 20s?
He was 17 when he started playing. Originally as a backrower but was moved to lose head for Sweden and then tight head for Nothingham. He's 130 kg and 6’5 so he's a big guy
Given that he made his debut for Sweden aged 21 (or possibly 20?) it seems unlikely he only took up rugby in his 20s. Even a team like Sweden probably doesn’t cap guys after just a few months playing the sport.
Heja Sverige!