Will Rowlands

London-born Will Rowlands received his first call-up to a national squad at any level on 15 January, 2020, when Wayne Pivac included him in his Six Nations group.

The 28-year-old lock, who has a Welsh father, developed under the watchful eye of former Wales and British & Irish Lions star Dai Young at Wasps and was named as the Premiership club’s ‘Player’s Player of the Year’ for his efforts in the 2018/19 season.

Having learned the game at Rugby School, he studied business, administration and management at Warwick University before heading to Pembroke College, Oxford, to take a BA in economics and management. He went one better than his father, Jeremy, at Oxford by winning two Blues. His dad had played for the Whippets, but Will played in two victories over Cambridge at Twickenham in 2012 and 2013.

He had been linked to the Northampton Saints development squad for a few months after leaving school, but joined the Wasps academy while at Oxford. He played a few LV= Cup games while still a student and then graduated from the Wasps Academy and was given a first team contract before the 2014/15 season.
 He went out on loan to Jersey Reds in the National Championship in the 2015/16 season, but on his return to the Ricoh Arena he established himself as a first-team regular alongside England’s Joe Launchbury in the second row.