KIERAN SASSONE

HARLEQUINS TIGHT-HEAD

Role models play a vital part in any young player’s career and academy tight-head Kieran Sassone could not be better placed alongside Kyle Sinckler and Joe Marler, under the watchful eye of Lions legend Adam Jones.

Born to an Italian father and English mother, Sassone played his early rugby at Cranbrook RFC before hitting the Quins radar and switching to Sevenoaks School and Sevenoaks RFC.

Having joined the Quins academy fulltime this summer, Sassone is determined to fine tune his propping skills under Quins’ tutelage

Sassone, 19, said: “I played centre to start with and then spent a long time at No.8 but when I was 16 Jim Evans at Harlequins suggested I looked more like a tight-head – probably because I ate too many pies – and I’m glad I listened because I’m loving it.

“This is my first year fully involved in the academy and what better place could there be for a young tight-head? We’ve got Kyle Sinckler – a Lion – and Joe Marler to teach me how to hurt the opposition and Adam Jones overseeing us. It’s the perfect place to be.

“There’s a lot of making tea and coffee but I’m learning so much off these guys.”

Having sampled the Premiership Shield, Sassone is learning quickly. He explained: “A major step up for any young tighthead is the physicality of the scrum. You’re going from schoolboy level, where you have a fair bit of force but it’s not too heavy, to a level where there’s about a tonne-and-a-half going through a tight-head’s spine.

“If you’re slightly out of position or you’ve come from school and don’t really know what you’re doing, it can lead to serious injury down the line. So, being with Kyle Sinckler especially, working on technique, how to bind and learning the minute detail, is invaluable.

“The amount of knowledge Adam Jones has is incredible, too, and he goes through my games in fine detail and notices everything. You win the battles on fine details and he’s really helping me get on top of those and understand how to counter different looseheads.

“It’s gold dust to be honest and they’ve all been really good.”

Sassone is a student of other top props, adding: “Tadgh Furlong is the tighthead everyone’s looking at, but on the other side of the scrum I also look closely at Mako Vunipola and how he handles himself around the pitch. I’m just trying to learn as much as I can.”

Currently dual-registered at Worthing, Sassone will continue his learning in National Two while hopefully featuring in the forthcoming Premiership Cup.

He has another big target, adding: “My over-arching goal is to get into the England U20s and win a cap. In the meantime, I’m down at Worthing and learning my trade there. You take a few big hits in that league but it just fires me up for the next contest!”

NEALE HARVEY