England talent opens up on late introduction to rugby

The Northampton Saints youngster has played 19 England U20 matches over the past two years and is set to make his final appearance at age grade level in England's Junior World Championship third-place play-off against New Zealand.

Scola admitted he had never even watched a rugby match until he was 17. Now, at 20, he is regarded as one of the country's brightest young loosehead props.

He has already made numerous appearances for Northampton in the Premiership Rugby Cup and featured twice from the bench in the Premiership last season.

He is not the only England U20 prop to come to rugby later than most. Tighthead Ollie Streeter only started playing the sport at 13 and has already made Premiership appearances for Harlequins.

Before rugby, football was Scola's main passion. He supported Tottenham Hotspur growing up and also watched his local club, Northampton Town.

"I had never watched a rugby game until I was probably like 17, I was really late with it all. I watched a bit of Cobblers [Northampton Town] at the football and then I would play a bit of Sunday league but I only started rugby at 16 and that was me."

He played both striker and centre back in Sunday league football, often starting in defence before moving up front when his team needed a goal.

Scola explained how his rugby journey began at under-16 level and how a switch from the second row to loosehead proved to be a defining moment.

"I started at 16s and I was a second row. I couldn't really jump too high, I was just a bit quicker and then my coach put me at loosehead for a game and it happened to be the first one that the Saints Academy coaches were watching so they got me in there and I've just stayed at loosehead since."

Despite still being only 20, Scola has already overcome a serious ACL injury that sidelined him for more than a year. Looking back, he believes the setback ultimately made him a better player.

"It look me a bit longer to get back, I was about 14 months out. I did it at the start of the academy league season but it helped me because I ended up going gym every day, I put on a good bit of weight, probably a bit too much in the end.

"When I came back I was a better build for scrummaging and it just meant that I'm more aware of my body and how to prep for sessions whereas before at 18s I probably didn't even think about injuries as a thing."

Reflecting on his rapid development, Scola believes starting the sport later than most may actually have worked in his favour because he avoided developing bad habits at a young age.

"I've been really lucky with the coaches. Will Parkin was my first ever coach at Saints 18s… You pick up a lot of bad habits at youth level and I've been lucky that I've had top-class coaches everywhere I've been so I probably haven't had the chance to pick up the worser habits."