Paolo Odogwu: Eddie Jones took me under his wing and told me he believed in me
After wowing fans for Wasps, Paolo Odogwu was not seen during the Six Nations. He tells John Westerby how the experience improved him as a player — and an artist
Friday April 23 2021, 5.00pm, The Times
The performance that propelled Paolo Odogwu into the thoughts of a wider audience, in which he scored two tries as Wasps beat Bath 52-44 in early January, was a luminous display of his kaleidoscopic skills. With his red-tipped braids bundled into a top-knot, the wing daubed vivid lines of colour through Bath’s carefully organised defence, stepping his way through with a combination of nimble footwork and low-slung power, then accelerating away with eye-catching pace, scoring and creating tries with a hint of the artistic invention that extends way beyond the rugby field.
It was the sort of eye-catching performance that made the casual viewer want to see more of this shimmering talent. Eddie Jones, the England head coach, thought much the same thing and picked him in his Six Nations squad. “That was probably one of the best games I have ever played,” Odogwu said. “I really enjoyed myself. I’ve only got fond memories of that game.”
And then, as quickly as he had sprung to prominence, the 24-year-old disappeared without a trace for 11 weeks. He would not play another match until the end of March, despite being fully fit. It takes some effort to hide a broad-shouldered rugby player with red dreadlocks, but Jones managed it in the Covid-secure bubble at the Lensbury hotel for the duration of England’s curiously lifeless Six Nations campaign.
Even for the facile victory over Italy, a game frequently used by coaches to take a further look at emerging players, there was no sign of a debut for Odogwu. Wasps asked whether he might be released at some point to play a game for them, if only to keep his eye in, but the offer was rebuffed.
Odogwu is keen to point out that his first taste of an international environment was anything but wasted time. For a start, amid the confines of Covid restrictions in his hotel room, he turned out quite a few pieces of artwork.
“I ordered a massive A2 sketch pad off Amazon before I got there and a load of colours,” he said. “I was sitting there doodling, we had a lot of free time. It was good to have that amount of time to hone my designs and do a bit of drawing without anything else to think about.”
The rugby, too, was a beneficial experience, he says, even if it was not quite as expected. “It doesn’t just build your playing ability, it builds your character,” he said. “Going into a new environment and training with that calibre of player, you have to raise your standards. When I didn’t play, I had that time to pick out individual parts of my game that I wanted to improve. I definitely felt like I could hold my own, but there’s always more you can do. Hopefully I can get invited back.”
Did he find it frustrating to spend such a long period in the middle of the season without playing a match? “We pretty much got that match-day hit in the Wednesday training sessions,” he said. “Obviously you want to play, but [England] are one of the best teams in the world. I was happy just to compare myself with the players and figure out that I’m not too far off.
“[Jones] was positive with me for the whole camp, took me under his wing almost and was constantly telling me how much he believed in me as a player. He said I had the talent, but needed to keep refining my skills. He was really good in keeping me motivated, making it seem like I was part of the squad and not there to build numbers. That’s how I felt.”
At the very least, the experience was enough to convince Odogwu that his international future could lie with England rather than Italy, for whom he qualifies through his father, who is half Nigerian and half Italian.
“I had proper chats with Franco Smith [the Italy head coach],” he said. “Obviously it would be a great honour to play for them, but I thought I have got to back myself here. I can’t just run away from it now as I haven’t been picked in one camp. I’ve been in the set-up and know what I need to do to get into that team. Definitely England is the place for me.”
Back at Wasps, he will be reliving the breakout game against Bath that made his name, as the sides meet again at Ricoh Arena on Sunday. Odogwu, who measures 5ft 9in and 15st 2lb, had only just begun to cement his place as a regular starter, shifting between wing and outside centre, before his unexpected removal from the fray, and he makes his third start since returning to club duty on the right wing this weekend. “There are going to be certain things you get rusty on, like tackling properly, because I didn’t have to make a full-on tackle [during the Six Nations camp],” he said. “All in all, I feel I haven’t lost the level of confidence I had before. Going back to Wasps, I was just trying to keep myself at that level.”
In the Wasps back line, he will be joining forces again with Jacob Umaga, another player drafted into England camps this season without making his debut. The fly half is not only a team-mate, but the pair are business partners too, having launched their own clothing line, Composure Club. “I have quite an eclectic fashion sense, as my mum would say,” Odogwu said. “I love vintage clothes and old-school American clothing, but also band T-shirts and rock T-shirts with a nice graphic print. I like to have really loud stuff, then Jacob reins me in.”
The flashy back, who paints designs on his boots, and the more measured fly half: a true rugby combination? “I’m the more creative side, but I have to get approval from him before I do anything too crazy,” Odogwu said. “It’s hard to show your personality in rugby because it’s such a — I don’t really know what the word is — gentlemanly sport. You don’t have those massive characters, apart from a couple of people, as you would in American football or basketball. For me to express myself, with my boots and red hair and stuff like that, it’s nice to bring a bit of individuality to the sport.”
After playing at both wing and centre, the Wasps head coach Lee Blackett and Odogwu are working out which position best allows him to express that individuality. “In [the England] camp, I spent a lot of time in the centres and I feel that is probably my best position going forward,” Odogwu said. “Playing both positions at a high level gives me more chance of being involved. [Blackett] sees me long-term as a centre, but we’ve got Malakai Fekitoa, one of the best centres in the world. I just want to be playing and want to be involved.”
The summer internationals against the United States and Canada could be the time when Odogwu is given the chance to be involved at international level, perhaps alongside Umaga, which would give the Composure Club the chance to showcase its line of international shirts. If he can show his true colours once more against Bath, Odogwu would be one step closer to that first cap. “I’ll keep backing my own ability, there’s always that self-belief,” he said. “If I see something I think is on, I’m going to go for it.”
Topic: Paolo interview in The Times (Read 682 times)
Always a Wasp