Malins reaping rewards from Farrell tutorials
GIFTED Saracens playmaker Max Malins is ready to step out of the shadows and prove why Owen Farrell and Alex Lozowski should fear for their jerseys.
Former England U20s star Malins, 21, produced a stunning two-try cameo in a losing cause against Leicester last Sunday and should get another chance to demonstrate his sinewy running skills in today’s rearranged top-of-the-table showdown at Exeter.
After a productive season honing his leadership skills and physicality, the confident No.10 told The Rugby
Paper: “It wasn’t the result we wanted last week, but I was pleased with how things went personally and I’m coming into games with lots of confidence.
“Earlier on I’d have been a bit tentative about taking chances myself but I’m backing myself now and although I’ve got two class guys in front of me, learning from them and putting that into my game will be key to chasing them down.
“It can be mentally daunting coming up through the academy from a young age behind those guys. In my first and second years it looked way off and almost unreachable but they’ve been fantastic and I’m developing and getting closer.”
Malins again starts on the bench as Saracens welcome back England lock George Kruis. He partners Dominic Day in the engine room while Ben Earl, another of the club’s academy products, makes his first league start at No.7 in place of Schalk Burger.
Nick Isiekwe fills in at blindside in the absence of Calum Clark and on-loan London Irish flanker Blair Cowan could make his debut from the bench.
Malins, meanwhile, has bulked-up and increased his pace for a genuine crack at the Premiership. He explained: “Weight-wise I’ve hit my target of getting up to 88kgs (13st 11lbs) from 83kgs (13st 1lb) over the last year-and-a-half.
“You have to be physically ready for the step up so the weight has been a big thing for me. Your body has to be ready for the collisions and intensity of games and because of all my leg work, I’ve got quicker too.”
The final step is becoming a dominant leader like Farrell, with Malins adding: “England U20s last year helped massively with that and, apart from losing the final, we had a great campaign in which I was able to become a lot more vocal around the team.
“Owen is extremely dom- inant in training and that’s something I’m trying to learn. He’s naturally a very big leader, hugely competitive and like another coach on the field, but hopefully I can push for a starting spot in the near future.”
Another promising young fly-half, Joe Simmonds, is handed just his second Premiership start in place of Gareth Steenson as Exeter make seven changes to the starting XV that struggled to subdue Northampton.
Henry Slade returns from injury to partner Sam Hill in midfield, while Nic White and Phil Dollman are restored at scrum-half and full-back, and Ben Moon, Tomas Francis and Dave Ewers come into the pack.
England will monitor the progress of back row ace Sam Simmonds, who is on the bench after overcoming the shoulder injury he suffered against Wales.
Boss Rob Baxter said: “We’ve been a bit like an F1 car which has picked up a bit of an engine problem mid-race, but we’re still top of the Premiership and, having made the odd tweak, I’m expecting us to be flying along again now.”