Rodd enjoys a ‘well done’ from father after rapid rise through the ranks
⮞sale Sharks prop credits his home coaching for a grounded approach after Marler leads the praise for display against Boks
If Eddie Jones’s biggest concern is keeping young players’ feet on the ground, he will be relieved to know that Bevan Rodd has his size 12 boots filled with concrete. While all the attention this autumn has been on Marcus Smith and Freddie Steward, Rodd has arguably experienced an even steeper ascent.
The 21-year-old quietly became England’s youngest starting prop since 2003 last week against Australia, after Ellis Genge and Joe Marler were forced into Covid-19 isolation.
From facing 113-cap James Slipper, Rodd’s baptism of fire got a whole lot hotter against the Springboks’ ferocious tighthead Trevor Nyakane at Twickenham on Saturday. Jones compared it to fighting a boxer ranked outside the top 10 to taking on the heavyweight champion. Yet by the time he was replaced in the 48th minute, when the Springboks really started turning the screw, Rodd was still ahead on the judges’ scorecards, with Nyakane twice being penalised for his bind. Watching from the bench, Marler said the Sale Shark had passed the acid test of international scrummaging “with ease”.
And yet here was Rodd’s own assessment: “I did all right this week, I feel like I could have been better in certain areas. I feel like I did better last week. The scrum went all right.
“But the second half wasn’t good enough, and I probably could have done better in the loose as well.”
Rodd did not quite survive unscathed. He was caught flush in a tackle by his opposite number Ox Nche, which he confirmed hurt as much as it appeared, and also needed stitches to a cut above his eye.
But in the scrummaging department, he held his own long enough for England to gain a platform in the game.
He later revealed that he had been able to call upon advice from Alex Corbisiero, the former England loosehead who visited their training camp last week, to take on the heavier Nyakane.
“He gave me a few tips on how to deal with people that are heavier,” Rodd said. “He was saying he wasn’t always the heaviest when he was younger. That really helped me out, and it meant a lot for him to give me advice when he didn’t need to.”
Rodd still ranks himself as England’s third-choice loosehead behind Marler and Genge, who were part of the 2019 World Cup squad. While they were in Japan for the final, Rodd was playing alongside Raffi Quirke for Sale RFC, the amateur team, against Birmingham Moseley. “I don’t get time to think about that sometimes,” Rodd said.
“I’ll probably go back on Sunday, have dinner with my parents, and my mum will start crying again. Crazy to think, but you just want to keep getting more and more.
“I reckon I’ve learnt three things a day, during the eight, nine days I’ve been here.” Even if he did not
When England were in Japan for the World Cup final, Rodd was playing for an amateur team
betray any signs of outward jitters, Rodd said in the five minutes before running out to make his debut he was a bag of nerves, not that he gained much sympathy. “Last week, Tom Curry told me to grow up and get on with it,” Rodd said. “So, I probably just used that technique again.” Rodd is used to tough love. His father, Steven, was his coach through much of his childhood and handed out praise sparingly. Receiving a “well done” from his old man for making his debut against the Wallabies was the ultimate seal of approval. “I probably thought then, ‘Yeah, I’ve done all right there’,” Rodd said. “My dad’s very keen for me to stay levelheaded and don’t get distracted from it. “Considering he was my coach when I was younger, I didn’t really get a lot of ‘well done’ off him. It was more, ‘You didn’t do this, you didn’t do that’, so it has probably come from him.”