Asher Opoku-Fordjour: 'You want to be the one that dominates'

Joe Marler enjoys playing the fool but when it comes to the speciality of front row play, he is a character whose endorsements carry weight. It was last November, fresh out of a third-place finish with England at the Rugby World Cup when some jokey touchline analysis live on TNT Sports about Harlequins versus Sale in the Gallagher Premiership suddenly turned serious.

“Do you not want any analysis? So there is a young tighthead that has come off the bench for Sale. He replaced James Harper in the warm-up, something like that… I have got a big thing about young, up-and-coming front-rowers. Fin Baxter for us… but this guy, No18, I like the look of.”

Marler is not alone in liking the look of Asher Opoku-Fordjour. Alex Sanderson, the youngster’s boss at the Sharks, is constantly singing the praises of his soon-to-be 20-year-old tighthead who enjoyed a breakthrough year at the Manchester club, making 11 Prem and Champions Cup appearances.

But here’s the thing: Opoku-Fordjour is such a talented young buck that he swaps roles and also packs down at loosehead for the England U20s. He did so for last year’s fourth-place finish at the World Rugby U20 Championship and he is packing down in that role again this month with Mark Mapletoft’s team two from two at the 2024 tournament and poised to confirm semi-final qualification with Tuesday’s final group game against South Africa.

Ask Opoku-Fordjour which position he prefers to play in and the answer quickly arrives. “Tighthead. I have been doing it since I started playing prop and I feel like I have got a greater understanding of how to play tighthead so far. That is the main thing,” he told RugbyPass in the lobby of the England age-grade hotel in Cape Town, accommodation that comes with a twist over the next few days as they are sharing with the Junior Boks, their next Pool C opponents.

“It only helps really (to play both sides of the scrum). You get a feeling of what it feels like at tighthead what you wouldn’t like to happen to you and vice-versa and once you feel it helps you play tighthead. But the only thing I would say is after you do it, play one side a while, it’s difficult to go straight over and have the same result. I feel like it takes some time, a couple of training sessions, to get back into the feeling of the position you are playing.”

There is a softly-spoken shyness about Opoku-Fordjour and yet he doesn’t hold back volunteering information. “It was an honour to hear from someone that you have grown up watching and see what he has done in the game. For him to say a couple of nice words about me was really nice,” he said about having Marler pump his tyres on live TV.

Rugby has been quite the adventure so far for the promising front-rower. Just 21 months ago, the Wasps academy kid was told he being made redundant, that the club had gone kaput overnight. “I would say I am a pretty calm guy,” he suggested, reflecting on the unsettling October 2022 development.

“I was upset that I was leaving the boys, the coaches that taught me what they taught me and that was the main thing, the relationships that I built with everyone in such a short time. I felt calm. I wasn’t too worried. I didn’t have an agent at the time. My (now) agent got in touch with me and he is a pretty calm guy as well, so we worked through options and I ended up at Sale.”

Switching to Manchester was quite the change for the Coventry local but quickly sensed the vibe of the rugby set-up and was smitten. “I feel like it was a warming club. Like Opoku-Fordjour, when you walk into the building you feel like it’s almost like a home. I was comfortable there and I knew a couple of the boys as well from Souths vs North games and it just felt right. I’m glad I made the right decision.”

Sanderson was another factor. “Yeah, he made me feel comfortable and I could tell that he wanted to put trust into his younger players which not all coaches are willing to do. That was one of the main things.”

What the switch initially meant was a change in Opoku-Fordjour’s National League apprenticeship. He had been out at Stourbridge while at Wasps, but Sale crowbarred him into Sedgley Tigers. This grassroots level tuition at both clubs was invaluable.

“When I first was at Wasps I was at Stourbridge and everyone was telling me it was going to be super physical, that it was hard but it wasn’t. Around the park wasn’t that hard. The main test of me was my scrum at tighthead and I learned a lot in a short period of time of what I need to do, what I need to do with my body and what I need to learn, the little things I need to know about scrumming.

“I can’t pinpoint a specific date but yeah, I know I felt I was under pressure loads of times in the scrum and it only helps you at that age, helps you learn and get a greater understanding of what you need to be doing.”

His on-loan education over, injuries gave Opoku-Fordjour his entry into Sanderson’s first-team plans. He thrived. The coach even claimed that his apprentice even gave Leinster and Ireland loosehead Andrew Porter a torrid time in Dublin last December. “I don’t know out taking out, I’ll held my own, held my own,” modestly reckoned Opoku-Fordjour, who went to explain what it is like as a 19-year-old rookie doing well at tighhead.

“It’s more of a pride thing personally, you don’t want to be the one that goes back. You want to be the one that dominates and I feel like that is the mentality I have when I am scrumming. Everyone should have that and most people do. You have just got to keep in the fight.

“I would say I am pretty calm; as I said before I am a pretty calm guy. If it’s like a game-winning scrum I will celebrate but other than that it’s your job, you have got to do it. But it is an amazing feeling being able to dominate someone in a scrum.”

There was one bad day at the office. “I can’t remember (his name) but at Stormers there was a loosehead I just couldn’t figure out and I didn’t know what to do. Yeah, that was a person that got under my skin a little bit,” he admitted.

“But at Sale there is so many experienced boys who are willing to help you and willing to go over stuff with you to make sure you get the best out of it. It might not be that exact moment where you get the fix but I am so young that I have got time to make mistakes and there is time to learn as well.”

So too was helping Sale follow up their 2023 Premiership final appearance by playing his part in getting them to last month’s semi-finals. “It has been a great feeling to be involved in it. Last year I was just watching it, I wasn’t really involved but this year I was in it.

“You can just see within the boys everyone wants to fight for each other. Everyone wants the best out of each other. It’s a great feeling and I am sure next season we will hopefully get something out of it. Sale is a club where when we are on we’re on and when we’re off we get the opportunity to chill and get close to each other and I feel like in tough moments in a game that stuff really helps and that stuff helps you get far.”

While his long-term goal is to go all the way and play for the British and Irish Lions and represent England at Test level, currently it’s about succeeding with is country’s U20s. “My mum is coming over for the third game and my dad is coming down as well,” he enthused about a Championship where, two rounds in, the odds have shortened on an England versus New Zealand final at DHL Stadium on July 19.

“It’s a very special team. Yeah, we like to focus on the steps rather than the end result. I believe we can win the World Cup. I don’t want to look too far ahead… but hopefully we can push on and do what we came here to do.”