There is a dark and dingy corner of the changing rooms at Oval Park, Leicester’s training ground, where the front rowers dwell. The wooden benches upon which they perch seem to creak with the memories of those who have come before, a club synonymous with scrummaging strength building its identity around the burly blokes. From the ABC club of Graham Rowntree, Richard Cockerill and Darren Garforth, through more modern-day masters of the dark arts like Marcos Ayerza, Martin Castrogiovanni and the recently-retired Dan Cole, it is a rich lineage.
Joe Heyes humbly admits that he does not yet deserve to be bracketed in that exalted company but the 26-year-old is moving in the right direction. Since being thrown in at the deep end as a teenager amid an injury crisis in 2018, Heyes has already appeared nearly 170 times in a Tigers shirt; a 15th England cap, and his biggest starting opportunity yet, arrived in the win over Australia on Saturday.
