LONG READ Fin Baxter: 'I want to be the best in the world.'

The Gallagher Prem campaign is up and running for Harlequins with mixed results, so the return of Fin Baxter to the squad for visit of Saracens tomorrow cannot come quickly enough. Baxter, who is preparing to make his long-awaited return after two operations on his foot kept him on the sidelines for nine months, is just the sort of player fans at The Stoop can look to to inject some belief in a club seeking direction. After something of a meteoric rise, which included an international debut at just 22, the enforced break gave the affable loosehead a chance to take stock.

“I try and reflect at the end of every season. We’re always so keen to [focus on] what’s next. We always want more. That’s just the nature of rugby players and sports people. I try to think of what’s gone well this year, as well as what I’ve needed to improve. I’ve got stuck in the past, concentrating constantly on improving and the things that aren’t quite where I want them to be. I found that, if I constantly think like that, I’m not very happy.”

The injury break also gave Baxter more time to devote to his studies, although, as he freely admits, having more time did not necessarily make him any more organised.

“It’s funny, I’ve decided a task takes as long as the time you have to do it. I had a lot more time to do my assignments but it wasn’t always plain sailing. I’m not a student and an international rugby player – I’m an international rugby player, trying to keep up with being a student.”

The expectations surrounding Baxter have changed considerably since he first broke into the Harlequins side. The fresh-faced prop arrived with plenty of promise, but his youth also meant there were always more experienced players to look up to. In contrast, Baxter’s return to fitness is viewed as crucial if Quins are to improve upon a challenging 2025-26 campaign. If the increased expectation is supposed to affect the way Baxter thinks about his rugby, he is having none of it.

“I never think about what people expect because obviously I don’t care, bluntly. I expect myself to play well and I want to show what I’m working on and improve on what I’m working on and keep my strengths world-leading.”

It is perhaps easier for Baxter to ignore such comments, having grown used to dealing with assumptions based on his youthful appearance since he was a teenager. With 16 England caps and a Premiership title to his name, those assumptions are largely a thing of the past, but he admits the preconceptions used to get under his skin.

I’ve never wanted to change because it’s who I am.

“At first I was quite chippy about it, going, ‘Why is that the first thing people are talking about?’ But I’ve never wanted to change because it’s who I am.”

Fortunately, Baxter came of age under the tutelage of another Harlequins prop who had to endure plenty of uninvited commentary on his appearance, albeit for different reasons. Baxter’s former teammate and breakout television star, Joe Marler, remains one of the most important influences on his career. For all his admiration for Marler, Baxter stresses there is a line he can’t bring himself to cross.

“One of the physios the other day said, ‘Oh, you’re going to pay tribute to Joe,’ and I was going to do the opposite: shave my hair down the middle. That was an idea we came up with but I’m not racing towards it!”

Not every prop has made the kind of tonsorial choices that Marler did, but there is still a tendency for front-rowers to be larger-than-life characters. Baxter smiles at my suggestion that front-rowers are a strange breed, but he has an explanation.

“There are certain kinds of physical limitations or criteria, and then there’s the mental criteria, which is you’ve got to be pretty tapped in the head.”
To the uninitiated, this might sound like an insult. Baxter means it affectionately, and it is clear that he views his fellow front-rowers with enormous fondness. He nods emphatically when I reference the fraternal nature of those who scrummage for a living.

“We have an appreciation for each other, definitely, because we understand the work we put in. We don’t score mega, 100-metre tries, and all of that. The bulk of our work is not glamorous, and is based on hard work, and being very physical.”

That fraternity does not stop Baxter from being fiercely competitive. If anything, his admiration for the world’s best props gives him a clearer idea of where he wants to get to. When asked who he currently regards as the world’s best, he points to the South African pair of Ox Nche and his former teammate, Wilco Louw.

“Our primary role is to be amazing at scrummaging, at mauling, and at the breakdown, and everything else, in my opinion, is secondary.”

“You’ve just got to watch Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry. Our primary role is the scrum, and set-piece, and those lads [South Africa] have, at the moment, the best set-piece going.”

Baxter’s belief in the importance of the set-piece is telling, especially given his many attributes around the pitch. For Baxter, there is sometimes too great an emphasis placed on things props can provide away from the scrum, which counts for little if their scrummaging isn’t up to scratch.

“I think quite a few young props get confused when people talk about ‘the modern prop’. Our primary role is to be amazing at scrummaging, at mauling, and at the breakdown, and everything else, in my opinion, is secondary. That’s where the world-class become different. They are world-class at scrummaging, and they’re brilliant at whatever else it might be. [Scrummaging] is not just a floor you have to reach.”

It is a revealing comment from a player who, despite his own relative youth, no longer thinks of himself as one of those young props. After all, this is a young man who made his first England start against the All Blacks at Eden Park, one of the most daunting assignments in Test rugby. At 24, with his injury firmly in the rear-view mirror, he is ready to enter the next stage of his career.

“I want to be the best in the world.”

Should he go on to achieve this ambition, it won’t just be Harlequins that reap the benefit. England will need world-class props if they are to stand any chance of winning next year’s World Cup. In Fin Baxter, they may have one before long.