Zheng on the fast road to success

ROMA Zheng’s rugby journey has been far from conventional and he admits it’s had its challenges.

- BEN JAYCOCK

The Harlequins winger, who has spent this season on loan at London Scottish, was born and raised in Warrington a rugby league heartland. Zheng’s frenetic behaviour as a child led his mother to take him to rugby training at Warrington RUFC to get him out of the house.

The 23-year-old comes from a long line of farmers, while his dad’s side is Chinese, meaning he is the first player in his family to play the sport. He attended a state school rather than the traditional fee-paying route, and the flyer admits it hasn’t been easy going the unconventional path.

He told The Rugby Paper: “Finding union clubs in that area is quite scarce, but luckily my locality in Warrington itself has been very successful for all age groups. I started rugby there and pretty much played there until I went away to college. It wasn’t my decision, it was my mum’s. We were so sporadic as kids, and she couldn’t even get a minute to lie down. So she just said, right, they need to play rugby and put us on a pitch just to get rid of our energy.