Fin Baxter ready for bigger role with England this summer
Fin Baxter is still only 23 but his approach to rugby remains very much in the old school.
The Harlequins prop burst onto the scene with Harlequins last season, a standout performance in place of the absent Joe Marler in a win away to Bordeaux-Bègles serving as a warning shot of just how good he could be.
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That led to a first England call-up for last summer's tour of New Zealand, and he has been a firm fixture in Steve Borthwick's plans ever since.
With first choice loosehead Ellis Genge away with the Lions in Australia this summer, Baxter now has the chance to take on an even bigger role for England.
And while the modern game might be asking more of props with ball in hand, Baxter believes that is the nuts and bolts that will determine how far he goes in the game.
He said: 'I want to keep showing that I'm a key part (of the England team). I've got a real point of difference, my set-piece is hopefully that difference, and the stuff I bring around the park in my carrying and tackling, is going to hopefully overshadow that aggressive stereotype that Argentina brings.
'Props nowadays, I think, are too quick to want to be the modern prop. That label has been thrown around so much whereas for me, you have to scrum, you have to maul, you have to be very good at that first, to then be able to do the rest of it.
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"At the end of the day, you are picked on your scrummaging and the rest of it makes you a brilliant player. That is something I wanted not to miss.
'Coming through at Harlequins, I would think 'what's stopping me? What's not getting me picked?' and it was scrummaging. It's an easy answer. If you've got that ticked, you can bring the rest of your skills.'
Baxter's emergence with England coincided with a string of narrow defeats, finding himself on the losing side in his first five caps.
None of that was Baxter's responsibility, but he made a match-winning cameo against eventual Six Nations champions France in February at the Allianz Stadium, scoring a try in a dramatic 26-25 victory.
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He describes that game as 'mega' and has relished the upturn in results since as England finished their campaign with four straight victories on their way to second – their best result in the tournament for five years.
He added: 'With England, it was a tough start results-wise. Come the Six Nations, to get the results like that and perform was brilliant. We beat Japan but before that, I'd not won a game for England, so to go from that to finishing off with four games not losing, it was nice to be on both sides of that.
'Being new into a team, you are not quite sure what is off, what's changed, what is different, because it's your first experience.
"I did say to myself 'don't let this taint the start of my career', I had good times in those games, it's not just the result, I was enjoying myself, camp was fun, and the boys were playing well. It was nice to get the balance.'
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The challenge now is to kick on against the Pumas, renowned for their powerful pack, particularly on home soil.
But for a player who has seized every opportunity that has come this way, Baxter is desperate to do it again and show that old-school skills still have their place in the modern game.
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