Wales set to blood prop Aaron Jarvis poached from England
The former England U19 prop was playing for Bath’s second team when the Pro 12 champions found out that his grandmother came from Merthyr Tydfil. Now he is in pole position to answer Wales’ front row emergency for the autumn series starting against Argentina in Cardiff on November 10.
The double loss of Adam Jones and Craig Mitchell has catapulted Jarvis to the front of a short queue of specialist tightheads. Jones will not play again until the New Year because of a recurring knee problem. Mitchell, his Osprey deputy before transferring to Exeter, has been put out of action by a bicep injury.
Jarvis’ transformation from Bath reserve to prospective Welsh international reflects the success of the Ospreys’ recruitment policy in unearthing Welsh-qualified players despite limited resources.
“There are a lot of players around the world with Welsh heritage,” Ospreys’ joint managing director Andrew Hore said. “We ask around and Aaron’s name came up two years ago. Then it was a matter of checking the information out and making sure of his Welsh qualification.
“He was playing for Bath in the English Premier A League. We followed him religiously for two years and signed him when his contract ran out. It just shows you how investing in elite player development pays off.
“We are plugging them into one of the best systems in the world which is borne out by the quality of front row forwards who have come through it. Jonathan Humphreys (forwards’ coach) deserves real credit for that.”
Jarvis will join exalted company when he rolls off the Ospreys’ front row conveyor belt into the Wales team, following Adam Jones, Duncan Jones, Paul James, Mitchell, Huw Bennett, Richard Hibbard and Ryan Bevington. They have done so despite what they consider to be inadequate funding from the WRU.
“Clubs like Northampton and Leicester have one person working full-time on recruitment,” Hore said. “We can’t afford that because our resources don’t stretch that far. The system is funded heavily by us. If you are prepared to put the extra money in, you get the results.”
Jarvis is the second Englishman in successive seasons to be claimed by Wales. Alex Cuthbert, whose try against France clinched the Grand Slam last March, launched his hitherto spectacular Test career on the strength of another Welsh granny, in his case from Wrexham.Wales have picked eight different tightheads at periodic stages during the last seven years when forced to go into action without Adam Jones, the one player above the rest whom they can least afford to be without.
Ben Broster, Chris Horsman, Rhys Thomas, John Yapp, Mitchell, James, Scott Andrews and, most recently, Rhodri Jones have all filled in, some on one-off occasions. Jarvis, a 26-year-old from Exeter who stands 6ft tall and weighs more than 19 stone, is now set to take his turn.
Against as formidable a scrummaging unit as Argentina, Wales will want to go with a specialist tighthead rather than switch the admirable James from loosehead as they have done in the past. Whatever the decision, acting head coach Rob Howley will be without Jones until the start of the Six Nations at the earliest.
There are no guarantees that he will have recovered by then from the knee injury which he aggravated during the Ospreys’ European Cup tie at Leicester last Sunday. “The injury is not deemed to be career-ending,” Hore said. “It requires up to ten weeks rest and that does mean we lose him for our two big games against Toulouse before Christmas.
“We will look after him and manage him properly. We won’t rush him back before he’s ready but he should be fine for the Six Nations.”
PETER JACKSON
