MY DAY OFF… MAKING LEGO WITH TOMAS FRANCIS

AFTER A couple of handshakes, Tomas Francis settles himself behind the table and rips open the box of Lego Rugby World has brought along. We opted for a Technic Tracked Loader, feeling the powerful construction machine reflected a front-row forward in some ways. Out comes the instruction manual and the different bags of pieces, which Francis arranges along one side of the table. He proceeds to build the model as we talk, clearly enjoying the process.

“I did three models in three weeks. I find it really relaxing. It’s quite therapeutic”

Lego has long been a love of the Exeter and Wales prop’s. As a child he built the Millennium Falcon and a Formula One car while he also used to glue completed jigsaws together and hang them on his bedroom wall. Those sort of hobbies disappeared as he got older, but he revived his interest in the autumn of 2016 while on Wales duty.

“I was quite new and didn’t know many of the boys, so I stayed in the hotel on my day off,”