Nick Cain: ‘Aggro’ Joe Marler is just a big chicken!
the Red Rose revelation of this Six Nations were established long before a thumping turn-over tackle on blindside Ryan Wilson in the first quarter set out England’s uncompromising agenda.
Marler favoured a dyed Mohican hair-cut with parts of his shaven scalp acting as a cranial advertising hoarding during his first couple of years in the Premiership – a retro image which fitted perfectly with Quins blasting out The Clash’s punk anthem, London Calling, over the PA system when the team take the field on match days at The Stoop.
The young Sussex born-and-bred prop may not have been the greatest scrummager in the league at that juncture, but he brought a hungry fighter factor to the Harlequins pack – and it resulted in him being involved regularly in running feuds with opponents, whether verbal or physical.
Things came to a head when, almost three years ago, he was sent off with Leicester’s Marcos Ayerza after an altercation at a ruck turned into a fully fledged prop punch-up. A two-week ban did not put the brakes on Marler’s progress for long, and, despite scrummaging ups and downs, his heavy-hitting in the loose as a tackler and carrier made him a vital component in Quins winning their first Premiership title in 2012.
The upward trajectory continued when he made his England debut at the end of that season on the summer tour of South Africa, playing in all three Tests against the Springboks as Stuart Lancaster’s side cut its teeth – but Marler admits that it was not until last summer’s two-nil series win in Argentina that he began to come of age as a Test prop.
What marked Marler out in the 20-0 win over the Scots and also in the narrow defeat by France in Paris, was not just his vastly improved scrummaging but the way he has channelled his aggression to become a legitimate one man force-field. In the process the former Eastbourne Sharks and Hayward’s Heath junior (where he played alongside Billy Twelvetrees) has proved that beneath the rough-house exterior he is a smart operator who learns quickly.
Marler’s progress, which has seen him stay ahead of England’s 2013 Lions loosehead, Mako Vunipola and the injured Alex Corbisiero, earned him this plaudit from Stuart Lancaster this week.
The England head coach said: “He deserves the No.1 shirt at the moment. He’s developed his all-round game, his scrummaging, and his tight game. What impressed us most at the weekend was his defence – the commitment and effectiveness of his tackling and his physicality. He’s grown massively in self-confidence and belief….”
Marler, who is still only 23, says he has matured over the past year, and that a big change came in Argentina when, for the first time, he was more middle-rank pro than junior partner.
“It was a different environment to the usual England set-up because a lot of the senior lads went with the Lions.You have to step up a bit more. There were still guys on tour a lot more experienced than me, but we also had a number of very new lads, and it was about sharing the workload between the more experienced players. That helps you grow up a bit, from being the quiet bloke in the corner, the joker or just the young one.”
Or the bloke with Mohican? Which begs the question, has anyone ever told him that to be a top player he would have to change his appearance? “Not really. I realised that, OK, I had my fun, had a bit of a laugh. But I also believe that what you do with your hair or wear on your body, as long as you are playing well, it’s not important. But I have to start looking after the hair now. As I get older, the hair is drying out so I need to be more careful.”
He confirms that Lancaster is right about confidence being the key. “Confidence at this level and my understanding of my role within the team is a big part of it. Scrum first, ruck first, do the basics well. There are other players who can do the fancy stuff, whereas I’ve taken a little bit of time to realise my role in the team.”
Marler has been unflinchingly honest about the way his scrummaging was exposed by Adam Jones in last year’s Grand Slam slump in Cardiff, and he describes it as another watershed moment. He also says the lessons are reflected in his changed attitude towards advice from coaches and former front row luminaries.
“You try to pick up as much positive advice as you can. But I haven’t always had that attitude.
“A few years ago, if someone gave me advice I’d put two fingers up and go and dye my hair.
“Now it’s about listening and learning, from characters like ‘Wig’ (England forwards coach Graham Rowntree), John Kingston and Jason Leonard. The message has always been that nothing happens right away, you have to keep working hard and plugging away.”
He adds: “My main role in the team is to scrummage. Wig talks about grafting and putting a shift in for the team. That’s what I try and do each week. Nothing fancy, just get on with it.”
Marler makes no bones about the new scrum engagement suiting him, and his approval is total. “I’d like to see it even more old school, where you take the hit away altogether. But it has made a positive impact on the game with more people trying to scrummage properly and stay on their feet.”
Part of Marler’s scrum impact could also be down to new Quins dietary regime tailored to the new scrum rules which has seen him add over half a stone (4kg) in bulk after consuming 6,000-7,000 calories a day. So, how does he do it?
“Eat. Eat a lot. Sometimes you get sick of eating. But the Quins staff help greatly with that. Food wise, you eat bigger portions, more protein, more chicken – five meals a day with extra chicken – there’s chicken in the fridge, you’re snacking on chicken. I like to enjoy my food, I like to think ‘I’m looking forward to this’, not ‘oh no, I’ve got to eat again’. But you’ve got to do it…”
As for extra training, Marler is succinct. “I can’t be arsed thinking about it. If someone says ‘lift that’, I’ll lift it.”
He is equally matter of fact about the road trip from his home in the small Sussex market town of Heathfield to the Harlequins training in Guildford that starts at 5.30am most mornings: “I do 124 miles a day round trip, about an hour and a half in the morning, hour and quarter home if we get away sharply. I lived up in London during my Quins academy years, but when I met my missus, whom I knew from school, we got back in contact and decided to move down, and have stayed since.”
England’s Six Nations campaign offers a change of routine for Marler, with the make or break game against Ireland on Saturday also bringing a welcome return to Twickenham after the first two rounds being on the road. He says it will be rugged.
“They are on great form. It was a very good game by them against a very experienced Wales team, and I expect they’ll go hard at the breakdown with O’Mahony very strong over the ball. Ireland have some very experienced heads, the likes of O’Connell, D’Arcy, O’Driscoll, so it’s going to be tough. But then we are looking forward to going back to Twickenham.”
Having won in Dublin last year, does he think Ireland are a different beast this time round?
“They are much the same. Last year’s was a close game – if anything they’ve freshened their game up a bit, tried to play a bit more. But they’ll be aggressive and hard at the breakdown, which they’ve always been. If you allow them to dictate, allow them to play their game, they will cause you problems for sure.”
As for England, Marler says that of his 17 Tests the game against France gave him most satisfaction, despite the result. “The performance of the team was great. It was a shame we went on to lose that, but it was a good statement that we are moving in the right direction. We’ve always had good defence and strong character since Stuart came in. But now it’s nice to see us developing in attack, to see the work Catty (skills coach Mike Catt) is doing beginning to bear fruit.”
By contrast, the England No.1 says the victory in Edinburgh was flawed. “Scotland was a good win, but a lot of boys came off the pitch pretty disappointed because we’d left a number of opportunities unfinished out there. The time we spent in their 22, the mauls from line-outs, we should have scored more points, definitely. We need to be more clinical because we won’t always get that many scoring chances (against Ireland), so we need to take those we do create. That’s been the message since we got home, be more clinical.”
However, overall Marler says England have improved from last year. “Our attack has come on a lot. The forwards are far more comfortable with the system we have in place, while the half-backs, DC (Danny Care) and Fazz (Owen Farrell), are playing more, throwing the ball about a bit more. Too much sometimes…”
He adds, “We’ve come a long way since Stuart took over, and still have a long way to go – but the key is that we are more comfortable with the way we are playing and the way we want to develop.”
It is an observation that mirrors the big steps Marler has taken up the loose-head rankings, and just how formidable he could become now that the prop business has his full focus.
