Young Gun: Alex Lundberg – London Wasps prop
The 18-year-old London Wasp has spent years juggling age-group rugby with education but, after finishing his A-Levels at Hampton School, Lundberg was not ready to focus solely on the sport.
He applied to the London School of Economics and was awarded a place for October – just a month after being named in this season’s England U20s squad.
However, the teenager is taking a hectic schedule in his stride and believes the importance of securing a back-up career path is invaluable. He said: “It probably will be a busy few years, but I hope it will be okay. I think as long as I just get my head down it should be fine.
“It’s just about being organised and making sure you’re proactive about stuff.
“There’s just no guarantee. I know it’s bad but you could just get an injury or you could not be good enough and you need something to fall back on.
“If you get injured and you don’t have that backup, you’d have to work very hard after that so it’s good to try to have something there.”
Lundberg’s conversion to the front row came at the age of 16, when his body shape and style of play began to gravitate towards that of a prop.
He was naturally slightly resistant to the idea at first but when it became clear that was the best course of action, the teenager threw himself into life as a front-rower.
And he has already enjoyed plenty of success there, winning the ER Nicholson Cup at Wasps – awarded to a youngster of outstanding promise – breaking into the England set-up and, most recently, touching down in an A-League clash with Harlequins two weeks ago.
“I had a pretty fat Christmas,” joked Lundberg. “I think it was pretty much on the cards for a while. Then at the first camp the U16s coach said, ‘do you mind trying out in the front row?’ I did it and it went from there really.
“It’s not easy but you just have to get your head down and get on with it. It would be difficult if you really shied away from it. You have to chuck yourself into it and just try to learn what you can and just get the hours in, really.
“As soon as I started there my school coach was really good and played me in the front row – it helps you learn so much.
“As long as you work at it, it’s not as bad as it might seem. But there are a lot of sore necks and the first camp was brutal.”
Lundberg’s rugby education began when he was six, trying his hand at the local club, Wasps Amateurs, and taking to it immediately. He progressed through the ranks at school and twice reached the Daily Mail Cup semi-finals but, much to his frustration, never got his hands on the trophy.
Now at Wasps he is training with some of the country’s best players and coaches and is learning as much as he can.
“Sometimes we train with them so there is obviously a bit of contact there,” added Lundberg. “That’s really good because it’s very hard work but when you’re put in that environment, you come back afterwards and you’ve learnt so much.
“They’re all really sound guys and always happy to help you out. Everyone is just really helpful.”
