It was two years ago that this month that Ed Prowse feared his rugby dream was at end. Then a tighthead prop hopeful, he had endured a difficult day in a preseason clash with Leinster – shunted back repeatedly at scrum-time, always his limiting factor in five years of striving to make it at the coal face, Prowse was ushered in by Phil Dowson, Northampton Saints’ director of rugby, for a chat.
“Dows pulled me in to his office and said, ‘we don’t really see you having a future as a tighthead’,” Prowse recalls, bluntly. “It was quite hard news to take initially. I’d tried being a tighthead for five years at that point and not really seemed to make much progress.” But the conversation came with a twist. Dowson wanted to broach an idea. “How would you feel about giving it a go in the second row?” he enquired of a young man desperate to make the grade.
“Growing up, I’d mainly played second row or back row,” Prowse explains. “Then trying to make a go of being a professional as a bigger lad, I thought I’d try and play prop. I suppose that got my foot in the door...” Still, though, when Dowson suggested the switch, he feared his career might be done. While one can find plenty of stories of players shifting up into the front row, Prowse correctly quips that “no one usually goes backwards”.
But Dowson had a plan. “He sort of had a vision for that bigger body in the second row, a bit like they do in France. That was the initial vision. Dows reassured me that it was a way he could keep me around and have another bite at the cherry. I just jumped into that with both feet and tried to make the best out of that situation.”
It has proved the making of a big man with a big future. Two years on from that uncomfortable initial conversation, Prowse is now a firmly established first-teamer, starting the Prem final in June as Saints regained their crown and earning a nod as the coaches’ player of the season. Others in the side may hit the headlines a little more regularly but speak to anyone at Saints and they will underline his value. Not least the props in front of him. “The scrum is a massive part of the game. Some of the back five probably don’t value that as much as someone like me who knows how uncomfortable it can be in there.”
Northampton’s lock roles are relatively clearly defined: Alex Coles, Tom Lockett and Chunya Munga are the springier lineout generals; Prowse, whose playing weight is around 125kg, and the giant JJ van der Mescht the heavier mob. But playing for Saints requires a capacity to get around the park. Sam Vesty and James Craig, a key figure in the development of so many young forwards at the club, prioritise upskilling and comfort on the ball in phase play – which suits Prowse just fine. “The way I like to play is the same as when I was a young boy playing rugby. It’s the same game, just on a bigger stage.
“I’m heavy enough to do them heavy jobs, but also being light enough where I can still get around the park. We pride ourselves on doing everything fast, so being able to do that is massive.”
That homespun approach reflects an unconventional journey for a player who has had to do things the hard way. Prowse first picked up the game by following his older brother down to Rushden, right on the border of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. Though schooled at Moulton College – the incubator for Courtney Lawes, Tommy Freeman and a number of other Saints – the forward was overlooked for an academy contact at 18, and had to rebuild his career with Coventry and Kettering in the lower leagues.
An ability to plough his own path, mind, is perhaps fitting for a man from farming stock. The summer break saw Prowse retreat for recovery, of sorts, helping his father out on the 7 or 800 acres of family farmland in rural Bedfordshire. “None of this was guaranteed growing up,” the 25-year-old explains. “It was a bit of a longshot being a rugby player. Coming from a farming background, it is quite different for me to go away.
“My dad likes the farm. I’d say he probably pushed that more than the rugby. I do a little bit, give him a hand where I can on the tractors.”
A long-term farming future can wait, though; it is the field of Franklin’s Gardens upon which Prowse is focused for now. Beyond that? His international ambitions are not front of mind but he can be in no better place to further his England hopes. “I’ve not really thought about it. I just want to take things week-by-week with Saints. The amount of boys that come through here and go onto the international stage is crazy. It’s something we pride ourselves on, how we can develop players from that academy pathway all the way up to international level. It’s definitely something I’d like to do.”
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