JACK VAN Poortvliet was a teenager in possession of a shotgun when he first made an impression on the man whose place he was set to take in the Leicester Tigers squad.
Long before exploding onto the international stage with England, the emerging scrum-half was turning heads and firing shots as part of a golden age of youngsters emerging through the club’s famous academy.
Future Scotland star Ben White and fellow Norfolk native Harry Simmons were pushing to become Ben Youngs’s successor or to elbow the senior alternative Sam Harrison out of contention in a competitive field of nines.
“The first thing I remember was Matt Smith, who had just retired and did a year coaching the academy, saying the name Jack van Poortvliet, as I’d never heard a name like it,” Harrison says. “Matt said Jack was the best out of the year along with Freddie Steward.
“I’d already made the decision that
