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'The boys love him, trust him': The 21-year-old rookie back-rower who is suddenly tackling up a storm in Harlequins' Premiership title chase
What Jack Kenningham courageously did for Harlequins fell between the cracks a fortnight ago amid the headlines accompanying the Mike Brown red card and the hoopla generated by Marcus Smith’s latest buzzer-beating try heroics for the Gallagher Premiership semi-final bound Londoners.
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Only the anoraks would be fully clued into what has been going on in recent times, last month’s season-ending injury to Will Evans suddenly opening up an enchanting vista to a 21-year-old whose claim to fame for 2020/21 should have only been the fact that he made a late February Premiership debut when the club opted to give some of the high-flying regulars a rare breather.
Kenningham was excellent that day at Newcastle in the eye of a storm that was a gallant 25-22 defeat, making a chart-topping 16 tackles and winning two turnovers in a maiden outing that impressed the likes of Harlequins assistant Jerry Flannery – “I thought Jack had a great game” – and left management regretting in no way the wholesale changes they had rung to a side that had been enjoying a four-game winning streak since the rushed January exit of Paul Gustard.
A pair of lesser profile appearances off the bench followed for the youngster against Northampton and Worcester, nine tackles made in 43 minutes, before Kenningham’s value to Harlequins and his positioning in the pecking order was transformed by the anguished season-ending injury suffered by breakdown-demon Evans at London Irish.
That injured happened in the 31st minute at Brentford and Kenningham’s involvement off the bench was followed by consecutive starts versus Wasps and Leicester where the only setback was the necessity for the head injury assessment that ended his activity at Welford Road with 24 minutes remaining last weekend.
The latest @TheRugbyPod had Andy Goode at his speculative best regarding the Harlequins vacancy following a chance encounter last Saturday with Billy Millard https://t.co/e6OUFbdtiP
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 20, 2021
All told he has now made six Premiership appearances, three as a starter, managing a lung-bursting 72 tackles in 308 minutes where he has secured three turnovers. His industry on the ball is far less noticeable, the statistics section of the Premiership website crediting him with just an eleven-metre gain from 17 carries in the three top-flight matches that he started.
But making things happen in possession isn’t his priority in replacing Evans, who signed off with a chart-topping high of 29 turnovers, 14 more than next-best Josh Bayliss of Bath. Evans’ tackle count was none too shabby either, his 175 total making him the tenth busiest in the Premiership this term on a list headed by Lewis Ludlow’s 259 for Gloucester.
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Eleven points ahead of fifth-place Northampton with just three rounds of regular season fixtures remaining, the upcoming games versus Bath, Sale and Newcastle offer Kenningham the opportunity to try and further accelerate his sudden emergence at Harlequins before the anticipated semi-final, most likely against Bristol, on the weekend of June 18.
How Kenningham goes will be interesting if he is the player that general manager Billy Millard relies on to see out the campaign in the No7 jersey. “It is critical we produce more Jacks,” said Millard when asked by RugbyPass about the rookie whose club website stats describe him as a 94kg back-rower who is 6ft 2ins tall. It turns out in reality he is 12kgs heavier than that.
“He is an amazing kid who grew up as a Harlequins fan, came through the pathway system and even though he is young and new, since I have been here (in 2018) he has been front and centre in grinding away behind the scenes. Whether he is playing on a Monday night or playing for his club or down in Bath University, he always pictures. He has only got one speed and he has developed and physically matured. The boys love him, they trust him and he has taken the opportunity with both hands.
“We have got a good group in our academy and it is an area we are looking to review and do better because it is critical. You get guys like Jack who have been in the system who have got that Quins DNA and they love for the club.
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“When they come into the senior group you don’t have to wait – they have got it from day one. It’s such a critical area of the pathway that we keep bringing guys through with the right mindset to push those first-team guys as quickly as possible.”
'I never intended to be as honest as I was in that conversation'@scottbaldwin2 's gambling addiction started properly in Italy and went unnoticed for years, but his house of cards eventually collapsed, writes @heagneyl 👨💻https://t.co/10PPbghSF0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 16, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Big difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to comments