YOUNG GUNS

JACK LIGHTBOWN SALE & ENGLAND U18 TIGHTHEAD

- BEN JAYCOCK

Jack Lightbown's journey into rugby didn't begin with a thunderous tackle or try-saving turnover. It started on a rainy day at a deserted football pitch in Bolton - an anti-climactic beginning that steered the teenager toward a sport that would soon become his calling.

Having once looked set to play the round ball game, the 18-year-old Sale Sharks and England U18s tighthead has instead excelled in rugby at an early age.

Lightbown told The Rugby Paper: "I wanted to start off with football. My dad was messaging the local club, trying to get me involved. We turned up one day and it was pouring down. We stood there for half an hour getting absolutely soaked, only to realise no one had told us training was cancelled. On the way home, my dad stopped for petrol and I just said to him, 'I think I want to try rugby instead.' I'd only done a bit of it at school, but something about it stuck.'