When profiling a player, you will ask a coach or family member at what point they realised the player was special and you are typically told a story about a length-of-the-field try or a match-saving tackle in the 80th minute of their school’s cup final. At Harlequins, they tell a slightly different tale about prop Fin Baxter and a PowerPoint presentation.
Before joining Harlequins as their head of performance support and player well-being, Andy Sanger served for 30 years in the British Army as a bomb-disposal expert, undertaking tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. When he arrived at the club, he soon realised there was a natural crossover between his two passions.
And so Sanger proposed that in the week of Remembrance Day, an academy player would deliver a presentation on a former Harlequins war hero in front of the entire squad. “I am the custodian of the culture within the club and part of that is how we develop our players and get them to understand the huge legacy that came before us and the heroic deeds of many former Harlequins players,” Sanger said. “I am trying to get them to understand that the spotlight is on us at the moment but the sun will move on to a new crop eventually.”
Then aged 20, Baxter gave his presentation on William Wavell Wakefield, who served as a pilot in both World Warsand was one of the first men to land a biplane on an aircraft carrier. He also captained England to three Grand Slams in the 1920s and is widely credited for reinventing the role of the back-row forward.
Adam Jones, the scrum coach, was standing at the back of the room with Danny Wilson, then a consultant and now head coach, as Baxter started presenting. “Danny was flabbergasted at how well this kid spoke so elegantly,” Jones said.
Sanger added: “To stand up at that young an age in front of your peers is intimidating, but Fin was so diligent in his research and was extremely articulate. I think that triggered in him the magnitude of the club and the people who have come before him. His diligence, his professionalism and how invested he was in it; that has translated directly into how he is conducting himself as a professional. He is a special player who will go on to do better things.”
Jones already had his eyes on Baxter, now 23, for his physical attributes of “having no neck and massive shoulders”, but for a while he remained Harlequins’ best-kept secret.
Then came last season’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Bordeaux. While Harlequins won a thrilling 83-point shoot-out, the ...
