Prop Idol – How Wasps' visit to Bath will give a glimpse into England's front-row strength-in-depth
Subplot includes two former school friends and housemates, Tom West and Will Stuart, propping against each other
By Charles Richardson 7 January 2021 • 7:30am
With the Six Nations on the horizon – Covid permitting – Eddie Jones’s options at prop are hardly scant. The incumbents, Mako Vunipola and Kyle Sinckler, have Test caps for the British and Irish Lions – and will add to them whenever the Lions may play again – while their understudies, Ellis Genge and Will Stuart, would be first choices for many other international teams.
On Friday night however, when in-form Wasps travel to out-of-form Bath, the pretenders to the throne could stake their claim in a showdown of the all-English front rows. In the black, blue and white corner, Stuart and the uncapped Beno Obano; in black and gold, for the visitors, will be Kieran Brookes and the uncapped Tom West, both of whom have been playing some of their most pugnacious rugby of late. In between the four of them, incidentally, there might be two more Englishmen: Tom Dunn, England’s third-choice hooker, and the uncapped Tom Cruse.
While the sextet will be well aware that scrum dominance in a one-off audition will not bring promotion up the England pecking order, the quality of the two respective front rows is such that any scrum dominance would be duly noted by Jones and Matt Proudfoot, his forwards lieutenant.
Adding spice, if it were needed, is that both Stuart and Obano are former Wasps, learning their craft at the club’s former London base. Since those days, Stuart has won eight caps for England – all in 2020 – while Obano has been ubiquitous in training squads since his nine-month recovery from a knee injury, and featured in a non-capped match against the Barbarians in 2019.
While Brookes, who has not featured for England since the 2016 Grand Slam, and West have been impressive for Wasps, Friday could separate the contenders from those of international class.
At the heart of this prop pageant, however, is a more intriguing subplot. Both West and Stuart, who might literally go head to head, have history, of the playful kind. The 24-year-olds have been close friends since they were 13; they played on either side of the scrum in the same school team at Radley College; and they were housemates coming through the Wasps academy. As West tells Telegraph Sport, the texts have “already been flying”.
“We started against each other after the first lockdown,” he says. “When we went down for the first scrum, there was a bit of smirking and laughing – genuinely. But we have been mates since we were 13. It’s surreal.”
Surreal, perhaps, but the friendship is one that is founded on veritable spirit and kinship.
The loosehead tells of his “pride” of seeing his old mucker running out for England. “I am so happy for him,” West adds. “Watching all the England games, I’m always so proud to watch him even if this weekend we’ll potentially be going head to head.”
West’s form, alongside Brookes, has been the cornerstone of Wasps’ recent revival, with defence coach Ian Costello identifying his pack’s set-piece work as one of the “key ingredients” in the purple patch. They have won their past four matches after a temperate start to the season, and West started in three.
But the loosehead has had to bide his time. Despite making his Wasps senior debut in 2016, West only managed 12 first-team appearances over the subsequent three seasons. Since head coach Lee Blackett took charge, however, West has cemented the starting loosehead berth. He has been almost ever-present, attributing his revival to the atmosphere at Wasps.
“All the coaches have been great and it’s such a good environment to grow in as a player,” he says.
“Since the beginning of the year, one of my big work-ons has been the line-out, so [forwards coach] Richard Blaze has been on to me about that.
“But you can’t really be perceived as having a good game as a prop if you’re conceding a penalty at every scrum – even if you’re setting the world alight around the park. You wouldn’t be doing your job for the team.”
As evidenced against Sale and Exeter, West has been going above and beyond in doing his scrum job. For that, he thanks Wasps’ scrum guru Neil Fowkes, while also doffing his cap to the work of Costello and Matt Everard (breakdown coach). It is a trio with which the loosehead is familiar: on his loan spell at Nottingham, Everard was club captain, Fowkes in charge of the forwards and Gleeson head coach.
With West, it would seem, familiarity is breeding anything but contempt.
Comparison Table that was in article, but code held separately (technical thing that anyone who knows HTML will understand)
Wasps v Bath: Battle of the English props
Beno Obano
Club: Bath
Position: Loosehead prop
Caps: 0*
Age: 26
A regular in England training squads, Obano has fought back magnificently after nine months out due to knee and hamstring damage - sustained while training with England in 2018.
*Played in an uncapped fixture against the Barbarians in 2019
Will Stuart
Club: Bath
Position: Tighthead prop
Caps: 8
Age: 24
Although Kieran Brookes has more caps, Stuart is best placed to push on for further international recognition - the autumn established him as England's second-choice tighthead.
Tom West
Club: Wasps
Position: Loosehead prop
Caps: 0
Age: 24
The international virgin of the quartet, having never featured in the senior England set-up; West's current form could soon see that change, however.
Kieran Brookes
Club: Wasps
Position: Tighthead prop
Caps: 16
Age: 30
The forgotten man on the tighthead for England, Brookes has not featured since England's 2016 Grand Slam but he is back to his best.
Topic: Article from Telegraph about Wasps v Bath Front Rows (Read 679 times)
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