When a propping veteran gives his unedited opinion about an up-and-coming youngster, it makes for compulsory listening. When it is given without the question even being asked, ‘compulsory’ turns to compulsive. It was Harlequins’ icon Joe Marler who picked the name of Asher Opoku-Fordjour out of the wreckage of Sale’s 36-3 defeat to Quins at the beginning of December 2023.
A mere ten minutes spent in opposition to the Sharks’ 19 year-old debutant convinced Marler to brush away any thoughts of a rote answer to a rote question, and throw the young tyro into the centre of the conversational spotlight in a flash interview with TNT Sports:
“Well, you can give me analysis if you want…” [interviewer Sarra Elgan]
“Do you not want any analysis? [If] so, there is a young tight-head that has come off the bench for Sale.
“He replaced [Sharks’ originally-selected] James Harper in the warm-up, something like that. And he’s – Mmm… [tasty]
“I have got a big thing about young, up-and-coming front-rowers – [like] Fin Baxter for us. But this guy, number 18, I like the look of.”
The background to success is nearly always found in adversity, and Asher Opoku-Fordjour is no exception. The teenager moved from Coventry to Manchester in the aftermath of the sudden financial collapse of his club Wasps in October 2022, and he has not looked back since.
A trio of breakout performances landed all in the space of one month, between the second half of November and the first fortnight of December 2023: firstly, two brief cameos off the bench against Newcastle Falcons and Marler’s Quins, then a much longer stint playing for an hour against Top 14 titans Stade Francais. No gentle toe-in-the-water here, but an impact that hit the bulls-eye with all the withering wallop of a rifle-volley.
His club coach at Sale, Alex Sanderson, summarized the feeling in suitably earthy terms:
“He [Asher] had to come on 10 minutes into a game this week, against the best scrum in the Top 14. Stade [Français] have the most dominant scrum in the Top 14 and they scrum through their loose-head [directly opposite Opoku-Fordjour].
If there is any dark cloud looming on the horizon of Opoku-Fordjour’s future, it is the question of where to specialize. On which side of the scrum should Asher Opoku-Fordjour choose to ply his trade?
“Asher is doing things that I haven’t seen 18, or 19 year-olds do before. That is just in the scrum – and then you look at his power. He is a prop with ‘fast twitch’ – a tight-head with fast twitch!
“You just don’t get them. They are as rare as teddy bear s**t! So, I am dead chuffed for him.
“We have given him the opportunity, but he is stacking up. From Newcastle to Quins and now in the Champions Cup. Where is his limit? I don’t think we have even seen it yet.
“We are making that noise about him because I think he deserves it. Obviously, we want to keep him moving forward, but I think he is having a good time and enjoying himself here. Yeah, we have found a cracker there.”
If there is any dark cloud looming on the horizon of Opoku-Fordjour’s future, it is the question of where to specialize. On which side of the scrum should Asher Opoku-Fordjour choose to ply his trade?
Leicester’s Dan Cole is now 37 years-old and Kyle Sinckler’s move to RC Toulon has ruled him out of contention under England’s overseas selection criteria, so the responsibility of locking the England set-piece down in the recent series against the All Blacks fell to Will Stuart. With 38 caps under his belt, the Bath man has had ample chances to cement his claim at #3 without ever adding a full-stop to the debate, only more commas and question-marks.
But where Alex Sanderson and Dorian ‘Nobby’ West at Sale Sharks see Opoku-Fordjour as a tight-head for the club, and as a potential answer to England’s black hole on the right side of the scrum, the RFU have been far more inclined to develop him on the loose-head at age-group level.
Billy Sela [who like Stuart is on Bath’s books] started all five games at #3 in the Six Nations. When he was injured midway through the pool stage of the recent Junior World Cup, scrum coach Nathan Catt resisted the temptation to shift Asher across, instead picking the huge young man-of-Gloucester, 132 kilo Afolabi Fasogbon there for the remainder of the competition.
If club and country cannot agree, that is a potential disconnect which could derail the development of Asher Opoku-Fordjour in the future. When the question is put to the man himself, there is no hesitation in the answer: Opoku-Fordjour prefers tight to loose:
Asher has name-checked Ireland and British & Irish Lions’ tight-head Tadhg Furlong as his prop idol, and even Billy Sela readily admits that the Sale teenager is more advanced in his development
“Tight-head. I have been doing it since I started playing prop and I feel like I have got a greater understanding of how to play tight-head so far. That is the main thing.
“It only helps really [to play at loose-head]. You get a feeling of what you wouldn’t like to happen to you; and once you feel it, it helps you play tight-head.
“But the only thing I would say is after you do it, it’s difficult to go straight over [to the other side of the scrum] and have the same result. I feel like it takes some time, a couple of training sessions, to get back into the feeling of the position you are playing.”
Asher has name-checked Ireland and British & Irish Lions’ tight-head Tadhg Furlong as his prop idol, and even Billy Sela readily admits that the Sale teenager is more advanced in his development:
“I learn a lot from just being around Asher because he loves to play tight-head as well.
“Whenever we go through [game or training] reviews and everything, he gives me little tips on what he’s done, and how he’s gone further and made his breakthrough.
“I normally just learn from him and he gives me tips, and then I just watch him from there and try to implement that in the games.”
Opoku-Fordjour may go on to become one of those very rare birds who are equally adept on both sides, but they can be numbered on the fingers of one hand at elite level – maybe only Andrew Porter of Ireland, Trevor Nyakane and Thomas Du Toit of South Africa, and Ofa Tu’ungafasi would qualify on that score. But right now, he needs to identify the spot that suits him best and get comfortable in his new surroundings.
What sets Asher apart as an England prospect, just like a youthful Tadhg Furlong, is his point-of-difference as a ball-player in the front row: “I would have said my ball-carrying was the strongest part of my game before coming to Sale. [But] I think my scrummaging has really gotten better since I’ve been here.”
The young man still supports Chelsea F.C, reckons he could have made it in professional Soccer as a centre-midfielder, and has a footballer’s instincts outside the set-piece:
Even with Asher starting in his less-preferred spot at loose-head prop, the England scrum was the platform for success in their semi-final at the World Cup versus Ireland, where they won the scrum penalty count 6-0. They added another seven, including a pushover try in the final against the champions of the last three years, France.
In the build-up to the final, Les Bleuets had made a big point about the benefits of their youngsters’ professional Top 14 experience, and Opoku-Fordjour’s opponent, 125 kilo Thomas Duchêne was no exception. Duchêne had already played in a number of games off the bench for his club ASM Clermont and was part of the France under 20’s side which had carried all before them the previous year. All that experience did not help him at all
Even though Duchêne takes a step outside and dips his height to offset his opponent just before the feed in the first clip, Opoku-Fordjour is still strong enough to jack the right shoulder up and uproot him. That normally spells the end for any tight-head at scrum-time.
Perhaps the most instructive example of all did not end [ironically] with an England penalty, but nonetheless amply illustrated Opoku-Fordjour’s iron strength and technical acumen.
The Sale man is not trying to push Duchêne back, but is simply looking to maintain his body shape under pressure. When the Clermont youngster looks to angle into the centre of the tunnel, Opoku-Fordjour squats ever lower and more compact in his response, and it is Duchêne who loses his form first. That takes a finer feeling for the dynamic equilibrium of the scrum, and betokens a maturity well beyond his 19 years.
The final slap in the face for Duchêne and his mates was a pushover conceded in the 53 minute.
For a French side drilled in the virtues of the Top 14, there was no coming back from that mortal wound to the heart.
When Joe Marler finally hangs up his boots, he could do worse than choose a novel career path, not as any old pundit on the telly, but as rugby’s version of a fortune-teller or soothsayer. In the space of a mere 55 words in a flash interview after the game between Harlequins and Sale Sharks, he predicted not one, but two-thirds of England’s front row of the future.
Marler’s own apprentice at the Stoop, Fin Baxter, has already added to his burgeoning reputation by playing most of the minutes in two Test matches against New Zealand, while Asher Opoku-Fordjour is the engine which powered England to victory at the under-20’s World Cup final in South Africa. Fin Baxter is 22, Asher Opoku-Fordjour has just turned 20.
When asked about England’s scrum dominance in the last two matches, Opoku-Fordjour played a dead-straight bat: “Loads of people think it’s the front row, but it’s all eight [forwards].” His team-mate Henry Pollock was much less guarded: “He’s lying, it’s all Asher!” England have their two props for the future, now all they need is to find the right bloke in between them.
Well at loosehead it wasn't the case that many young props were falling through the cracks. Lancaster (and you) did a great job of selecting young props at loosehead who (with the sad exception of Corbisero) kicked on to become some of the best props in English history. The original debate was about whether or not traditional English selection policy was to only pick props aged 28 and up, which evidently wasn't the case under yourself and Lancaster, when 60% of props (and 100% of looseheads) selected in 2012 and 2013 were 24 and under.
In the case of Will Collier, he was first choice at his club in 2013 at the age of 22. By the end of that year second choice behind Collier was Kyle Sinckler, age 20, whose emergence would slightly limit Collier's game time the following season. If Collier's development was hindered by premiership selection policy it had nothing to do with a preference for older players - quite the opposite.
The original debate was about whether too many young props are falling through the cracks.
Trying to remember back to that period ten years ago or so, we just didn't feel there were many good young props coming through in that period. Looking back at it now, I suspect it was a problem with the Premiership system rather than innate ability.
Thomas and Collier were the two THPs at the 2011 Junior World Cup for example. Both of them have enjoyed decent careers, but at least one if not both could have played a whole lot more at national level.
So what happened? Why didn't Will Collier come through earlier in his career?
Fair point that Lancaster largely inherited young props from the Johnson era, but its still significant that in the 2012 six nations England's five props were aged 21, 23, 24, 26, & 29. In the 2013 six nations they were 22, 22, 24, 25, & 27. That's a lot of trust for Lancaster to put in young props, even if that was just a policy of continuity with the previous regime.
I'm still unsure what you're arguing should have been done - during the Lancaster era Cole was 24-28, and Wilson was 26-30. Perhaps we wouldn't call them properly young, but those are good ages for props, so its not like they needed moving on to make room for emerging talents. On the other side of the scrum, Corbs and Marler were 23-27 and 21-25. Mako was 21-25. Giving the vast majority of minutes to such young players is surely the ideal strategy?
Stuart never really picked any young THPs.
Dan Cole was 25 and well-established when he took over and Davy Wilson was 27. He had been capped three years before, in 2009.
Henry Thomas only played off the bench on the Argentina 2013 tour [behind Wilson] and Brookes only came into the equation because of the emergency surrounding Davy's form in 2015.
On the other side we stuck with Corbs and Marler [and an emergent Mako when Corbs had to pack it in] pretty much the whole time.
I think Sela should focus on playing well for the u20s and gaining strength and size in the gym. Getting game time in the premiership shouldn’t be the priority until the end of 2025 I reckon.
If du Toit and Stuart are still playing well in a year’s time then maybe be should move, but there’s there's lot of rugby to play in the meantime.
I am a bit confused, you’ve been arguing that “the context of the debate is England picking guys - maybe at a young age - and then not trusting either them or their own judgments moving forwards” but what you’ve described doing with Stuart Lancaster is picking guys at a young age and putting a lot of trust in them, except that now it seems like you’re arguing there should have been more chopping and changing in terms of selection, and less trust put in Cole and Wilson?
I guess we'll see how much playing time the likes of Opoku, Fasogbon and Sela get for the their clubs next GP season...
They all have long-time fixtures in their way [Schonert, Fraser Balmain/Gotovtsev and Stuart/Du Toit respectively].
So interesting question - should Billy Sela move clubs because he won't get much of a look behind those two??
Speaking as someone who worked with Stuart L throughout his England tenure, we only tried two THPs outside Dan Cole and Davy Wilson in four years: Henry Thomas for one match in Aregntina when all the top guys were missing, and Kieron Brookes off the bench around 2014.
The issues in 2015 only arose because one of the two [Davy W] fell out of the picture so dramatically. We had nothing behind him and Dan, and Marler was supposed to be the emergency THP at the RWC.
Will Stuart isn’t first choice at his club either, and neither are Opoku-Fordjour or Marler. I agree that Heyes hasn’t developed as hoped, but being first choice at Leicester shouldn’t be a requirement to get into the England squad.
Hopefully Opoku-Fordjour will stay at 3 for Sale because that’s where England need him, but the point I’m trying to make is that I don’t think its just a matter of picking him at tighthead. Lancaster and Jones picked lots of young tightheads, and most of them weren’t very good, and it isn’t clear that they were overlooking better options. What we need to do is to increase the overall quality of tightheads coming through the system, so that if Opoku-Fordjour doesn’t develop as hoped there are viable alternatives. Nathan Catt seems like he might have achieved that with Fasogbon and Sela.
Joe Heyes has to get past Dan for Leicester first - otherwise I cannot see how he can be considered a genuine prospect…
From latest info the development of Opoku is still a bone of contention, and I’d imagine Nathan Catt will have some input into that.
But ultimately Sale own the player’s contract and I suspect they will keep him at 3.
sorry - missed the notification that you had responded!
Yes I agree there have been big issues in talent identification at tighthead, although I’m not sure what can be done about this. I’ve been a big advocate of sticking with Stuart and Heyes (and Rodd on the other side), but I’m not sure how much longer Heyes can be kept around for.
I think Lancaster and Jones had the right approach by consistently picking young props, and while Borthwick has done a great job overall I think its a shame that he doesn’t seem to want to give younger guys the same opportunities, but I think the main thing is to actually focus on coaching set piece skills. The addition of Nathan Catt to the national set up was a masterstroke and we could be in for a really good period of rugby.
Hi Nick, maybe the RFU coaches think that Asher Opoku-Fordjour isn't bulky enough for tighthead? I remember as a Sale fan thinking how small he looked coming on against Quins, expecting him to get mullered, only to be amazed at how well he held his own.
I think this is the debate. He’s 115kgs and needs to be 125kgs to be tighthead. He could get there in 18 months - the kid only turned 20 two weeks ago. They must build him up into a tighthead, it would be a crime not to.
You don’t always have to be huge for THP JD. Do you remember Rabah Slimani, now on Leinster’s books? Never played at mcuh more than 110 k’s in his prime, but very very awkward.
Opoku is listed at 115 k’s now but no doubt there is room for growth. He already has the strength.
I’m surprised that Craig Wright isn’t getting a mention. His performances, throughout the World Champs were consistently great and his stats must be up there.
He very active in the open and appeared to do a great job in the scrum, but I’m no expert!
Great in the loose and the scrum, but unsure about the lineout.
I think he’s not getting mentioned mainly because there’s likely to be more competition at hooker than at tighthead.
Mainly because he’s a hooker DG! But Saints are developing a great group of #2’s with Sam Matavesi and Curtis Langdon already there and Wright coming up behind them…
Thanks Nella, a very interesting approach to the problems of front rows and the scrum in particular. I work as a data analyst for a club that is strongly based on a vertical style of play, and I have rediscovered the technical vitality of front row play and the radical importance of set pieces. The game is populated by hundreds of details that we do not perceive and that make the potential difference between winning and losing. In Argentina we call 'Mañas' these differential capacities that inhabit this type of player (´Tricks´ in English...?).
Cheers RA.
England certainly used their scrum to massive advanatge at the JRWC, maybe a surprise under a coach like Mark Mapletoft?
They had a great pool of props, and especial strength at THP with Opoku able to shift over to that side as well as Sela and Fasogbon.
What happened to the clips? I only saw one with the article
Still under investigation DM!
When a propping veteran gives his unedited opinion about an up-and-coming youngster, it makes for compulsory listening.
It also begs the question: What the hell are the English selectors doing? Staring into their navels?
How difficult could it be to have like 6 world-class props in your squad? And like another 6 identified for the future and playing more regulalry? How is a 37 and 34 year old still even playing. After 32 it’s all downhill from there. I’ve been told. So these geriatrics are well past their best.
Someone’s not doing their job in England. Which is not surprising since they’re 5 in the world targeting no. 4 over the next three years.
I’d start asking for my money back.
I’ve been to England. There is no shortage of enormous men over there. Just put them on a treadmill.
😁
They’re OK on the loosehead, but tighthead seems to have missed a few years. There was much talk around 2016 of the need for ‘mobile props'. The U-20s started getting pummelled at scrum as they were going in with ‘great athletes.’ Borthwick identified the problem immediately and put in place a ‘tight-five’ identification and development programme. Should start seeing the fruits coming through in a couple of years.
It’s a reasonable question Bull.
I don’t see why you cannot attach a youngster like Opoku to the squad and just let him mop up info. The old wisdom that you have to wait til they are 30 before picking a new prop does not apply.
He’s at least good enough now to get him involved in the environment.