England star tipped to be better than rugby great Richie McCaw

“Tom is 20 years old and shining on the international stage,” revealed his Sale teammate to The Rugby Paper.

“He is an extremely hard worker and gives absolutely 100 per cent in every training session.

“At the moment he is one of the best openside flankers in the world. He is a fighter who never goes away and he wants to learn and get better.

“The key is to stay injury free and to be managed well. He plays in a very attritional position and you don’t want to see players like Tom finished at 25.

"He can go on to become the best-ever seven to play the game, if he continues on the path that he is and stays injury free.”