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15:00

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Gallagher Premiership

The massive compliment Joe Marler paid to a teenage Sale tighthead

By Liam Heagney

338 days ago

Sale's Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Harlequins loosehead Joe Marler gave a wonderful compliment to a teenage opposition prop when conducting a flash TV interview near the end of Friday night’s Gallagher Premiership win over Sale.

The London club were fully deserving of their 36-3 victory over the league leaders and with minutes remaining in the match, the England prop had a few brief words with TNT Sport, who were broadcasting the game live.

Marler played an hour of the match before giving way to Fin Baxter, but the 10 minutes he had on the pitch against Asher Opoku-Fordjour, a 50th-minute Sale replacement at tighthead for Nick Schonert, made an impression.

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The 19-year-old made his first-team league debut a fortnight previously when coming off the bench in the Sharks’ home win over Newcastle.

However, how he helped Sale to dominate in the scrum against Harlequins despite his team losing out in all other areas of the game, caught the attention of Marler. “Do you not want any analysis? So there is a young tighthead that has come off the bench for Sale.

A serious talent 🙌

Asher Opoku-Fordjour is already making his mark on @premrugby at the age of 19 after shining for England U20 Men in the summer pic.twitter.com/xHTPlkeTh2

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) December 2, 2023

“He replaced James Harper in the warm-up, something like that… I have got a big thing about young, up-and-coming front-rowers. Fin Baxter for us… but this guy, No18, I like the look of.”

It’s not the first time Opoku-Fordjour has stood out as he was part of the England U20s team that reached the semi-finals of the World Junior Championship in South Africa last July, a tournament where the try he scored in the pool opener versus Ireland highlighted his power and athleticism in the carry.

About Harlequins’ success against Sale following two successive defeats in the league, Marler added: “Buzzing. We were really disappointed with us pretty much not turning up against Saracens the last time we were here under the lights.

“We were a little more ourselves at Saints but still not winning… This week we really stepped up, gave the fans something to shout about again and we’re pleased.”

Click here for all the RugbyPass stats from the Harlequins versus Sale Premiership match

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Comments on RugbyPass

MQ 9 minutes ago

Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

Think we have to accept we have been on the slide for a while now.Still interesting to see the repeated media pieces about the myth of the ABs slipping-I would say slipped past tense.In part don’t we have to give credit for the improvement of other nations particularly Ireland?Isnt that good for the game?Are we beginning to feel the impact of losing the Boks from Super rugby and maybe soon TRC?I would agree we are also ran right now so will be interesting to see how we progress-assuming we do!Isnt that part of sport though to be in improvement mode?Back to the stats though I think the Boks were under 60% leading into 2019?Now with the focus on the RWC does it matter so much what you are doing between tournaments?You just get through your group(remembering the ABs qualified 2nd in 2023)and then you have 3 matches to win the thing.

2 Go to comments

GG 12 minutes ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

The ABs have more than enough back line guys so don’t see issue there. Just the balance at center and feel time for Rieko to sit out.Forwards- balance still not right. Front row ok but miss Codie. But still ok. Locks- you now need to start s a tall timber at middle of lineout- Darry is the right guy. Then move Sititi to 8, move Ardie to 7 and then move Vaai to blindside. He can become the closest to PSdT . Then have proper bench as this is not a demotion but key to dominating last 30 minutes- Patrick, Ofa etc are golden here. Get the balance right between starters and finishers

29 Go to comments

CO 22 minutes ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Cannot wait, will be Allblacks much improved against a team that's still firing. Allblacks by a whisker.

29 Go to comments

TT 24 minutes ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

But a AB win would surprise me & would be result of the ABs transforming [in 6days?I doubt it] from the sloppy error mush of V England & Ireland being early season rusty.

29 Go to comments

TT 28 minutes ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

My ‘fantasy’ team V Ireland,

Including options from ABXV if needed, as V Munster better better prep for V Ireland than England.

The most important aspect V Ireland is AB need ALL their loosies AND 'loosie capable locks' on ALL match [except IF(?) any tiring ie the aging & slowing eg Cane]. As follows,

{starting} bench (3rd choice)

1 {De Groot} / Tu’ungafasi  (Williams)

2 { anyone that can throw!! }/ Aumua (Brodie McAlister)

Ryan! coach lineouts & Aumua to throw!

3 {Lomax}/ Tosi  (Newell )

Tosi immense strength V England  

4,5 Locks { P.Tuipulotu, S.Barrett }, Vaa’i, Darry

( Isaia Walker-Leawere)

Vaa’i off V Eng. Assumed due to leg injury(?)

6,7,8 Loose forwards { Sititi, A.Savea, Cane } Vaa’i, S.Barrettm, P.Tuipulotu back up (Devan Flanders, Du'Plessis Kirifi  )

9 {Roigard }  Ratima  ( TJ )

10 {D.McK} Perofeta ( Plummer)  

12 {J.Barrett } ALB ( Q.Tupaea )

13 {Proctor} Ioane  ( AJ Lam )

 Ioane (off V England ) but Irish experience (NO not with Sexton!)

14 { Tele’a} Reece  (bkup W.Jordan )

11 {C.Clarke} Narawa (K.Naholo)

15 {W.Jordan} Love  (Stevenson)

29 Go to comments

johnz 46 minutes ago

All Blacks talk late-game adjustments after clutch England win

I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.

Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.

11 Go to comments

ColinK 46 minutes ago

Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

Whatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.

2 Go to comments

johnz 54 minutes ago

All Blacks talk late-game adjustments after clutch England win

Ratima did look rattled, compared to Roigard who looked like a boss when he came on. But that's been Roigard in test rugby so far. Ratima is only really starting because of Roigard's injury, otherwise surely Roigard was the incumbent. So it's not just one outing of the pine, that just points to Roigard being ready to have a start. As good as Ratima has been, Roigard just offers more.

11 Go to comments

GL 1 hour ago

How surprise opportunities led Harry Plummer to debut for All Blacks

Cody Taylor is a more significant loss than BB, not even close!

1 Go to comments

JD 1 hour ago

'I never heard from Gatland... It kills me to this day'

Won't see a player like him nor, hopefully, an arsehole like him either. Odious kant.

22 Go to comments

CO 2 hours ago

Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I agree largely and I rate McKenzie as a wonderful utility at his best but now at twenty nine I wouldn't take him to the next world cup. I've never seen him as a a ten or a starter either at top tier test level. The bench needs a serious rethink with ideally a hybrid halfback/wing or a hybrid halfback/ten or a hybrid ten/centre to release that need for two relatively small guys on the bench.

32 Go to comments

RW 2 hours ago

“He’s given Connacht everything” – Bundee Aki’s future, and an exciting tactical innovation

Starting a go fund me for Bundee to Leinster 😜

3 Go to comments

CO 2 hours ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Unbelievable, the penalty count was so lopsided in last week's first half I'm certain the conspiracy theorists have already had a field day.

29 Go to comments

JWH 2 hours ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Good idea, but to move a lock to 6 now with no previous experience save Scott Barrett (who is still our best lock) ahead of the 2nd best equal team in the world may cause more harm than good in terms of confidence, in both caoches and players.

Re lineout options, the ABs have the most innovative lineout in the world, with FOUR lineout options (Barrett, Vaai, Sititi, Savea), compared to Irelands maybe 2 (Beirne and Ryan). ABs will absolutely cause issues at the lineout, and definitely at scrum time. Those Irish props eat to much salad compared to our boys 💪

29 Go to comments

JWH 2 hours ago

Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I never said boring was bad, but it doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with the ABs style. The ABs 10 looks like this: a little magic, good offloads, tactical precision kicking, draw and pass, and a cool head to level it off.

A game manager isn't exactly necessary, as the ABs should all know what they are doing, and the 9 should be directing the forwards. However, considering the youth of our best 9s currently, a more vocal, directive, and logical player like Harry Plummer would make more sense than someone like DMac, who is in his own right a good 10, but tends to sit in wider channels where he can threaten the line more directly, so has less influence on the postioning of the narrower forwards.

32 Go to comments

Kia koe 2 hours ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Yep yep I agree

29 Go to comments

Icefarrow 2 hours ago

The ‘unsung hero’ who helped All Blacks’ bench make a telling difference

B-but all the armchair critics tell me he's useless and does little for the team but get penalised... This simply cannot be!

2 Go to comments

Thomas K 2 hours ago

England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

So you think you’d definitely have scored way more tries if it wasn’t for all the off the ball shots? 🤣🤣