YOUNG GUNS
As a budding tighthead prop at Leicester Tigers, you’d imagine Joe Heyes would look no further than Dan Cole for inspiration. However, while the 18year-old has the utmost respect for his club colleague, an Irish Lion is the man he admires most.
“The best tight-head in the world now is Tadgh Furlong – by a long shot,” says Heyes, an impressively built specimen who made his England U20s debut against Wales in Newcastle on Friday night.
“I’m trying to push away from being the stereotypical prop; I want to be more evolved by doing more than just hitting breakdowns and scrummaging and Furlong is such a big, versatile front rower now that he’s the ideal role model for an aspiring young tight-head like myself.
“You’ve got your more classical player like Dan Cole, who, of course, I admire and can learn lots from about scrummaging and breakdown work, but there’s becoming more to being a tight-head around the field now and I’m trying to combine everything to be the best player I can be.”
Heyes might never have been a rugby player at all had his family had their way. His father, Darren, was a goalkeeper for Nottingham Forest and also played for Scunthorpe, Wrexham and Halifax Town, while granddad George represented Leicester City and Swansea in the Sixties.
Joe recalls: “My dad had me kicking a ball when I was two and I played local football in Nottingham before going into the Forest set-up myself. But eventually I’d had enough of it and I started playing rugby instead, joining Nottingham Moderns. I actually wanted to join Corsairs, the best junior team in Nottingham, but my mum got the websites mixed up and I ended up at Moderns.
“At the time they were one of the worst teams in the county, but I joined them anyway and it was brilliant because I learnt so much. You could have a laugh, I made good friends and after that I spent ten months at Newark before becoming part of Leicester’s development pathway.”
Having converted from back to front row, rapid progress saw Heyes involved by England in last year’s U18s programme and now he is aiming to move up the Tigers pecking order.
He said: “I found it difficult going to Leicester at first and it was quite daunting for a 16-year-old who had only taken to rugby in 2014. I took a bit of time out because it was pretty nerve-wracking but those experiences stand you in good stead and I’m a more confident person now.
“There are lots of tight-heads in front of me like Dan Cole, Logovi’i Mulipola, Chris Baumann, Pat Cilliers and Ben Betts and there’s still a bit of ‘wow’ factor, but I’m getting a good grounding and being involved with the England U18s last year was fantastic. I was surprised to be in with a chance of the 20s this year, let alone starting on Friday, so I’m just learning all the time.”