Martin Offiah says Noah Caluori reminds him of himself in his early days and has urged the teenager to look at the bigger picture and focus on building consistency as he awaits his next opportunity.
The 19-year old is leading try scorer in the Gallagher Prem with 12 in seven appearances since his debut in September. In that same period he has played for England at U20 and A level and trained with the senior team.
But he has not appeared for his club Saracens since January and on Saturday, instead of starring in front of 45,000 fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, was farmed out to Ampthill, where a 1,104 crowd watched the Champ side beat Richmond.
Wasting Caluori?
Under the headline ‘Why are misfiring Saracens wasting Caluori‘s talents at Ampthill?’ former England star turned Times columnist Stuart Barnes questioned Saracens’ decision to “err on the side of patience”.
“There are not too many players in England with that point of difference to their game,” he wrote. “Don’t waste them in the second tier.”
Saracens boss Mark McCall would doubtless answer that the teen sensation with the incredible aerial game is progressing nicely under his measured stewardship.
Others counter that a try on his Prem debut in September, five on his first league start in October and one in both his maiden England A and Investec Champions Cup appearances in November and December suggest his time is now.
Sarries lie sixth in the Prem, 12 points off the top four with only six rounds to go. Since the league resumed after the Six Nations, the six-time English champions have lost both games and been outscored 12 tries to four.
Offiah lost patience with rugby union after scoring freely for Rosslyn Park in the code’s amateur days and not getting a look-in with England. At the age of 21 he switched to league and became a 501-try legend.
For all that, his message to Caluori, whose exploits have made him an internet sensation, is to bide his time as career longevity is not built on showreel moments.
“Noah reminds me of myself in my Rosslyn Park days, absolutely he does,” says Offiah. “I love people who express themselves and are themselves, because that was me, unapologetically so.
“Do I think he can go all the way to the top, absolutely I do. But the internet can be a bad thing as well as a good thing. My message to Noah is just be careful.
“I remember seeing Tyrese Johnson-Fisher almost break the internet when he scored four ridiculous tries in a school match for Oakham as a 15-year old. The video went viral, got 30 million views or something like that.
“He went on to make one professional appearance [for Bristol] and is no longer in the game. So you see the way you build a career is through consistency, not by being a highlight; you know, fame for 15 minutes.
“That’s what you must be careful of. You’ve got to construct a solid career with the fundamentals and the foundations that are built over time.”
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Offiah adds: “My son Tyler [who plays for Bath and England U20s] jokes about my try at Wembley [the length-of-the-field score for Wigan against Leeds in the 1994 Challenge Cup final). He goes, ‘Dad, you only scored one try 30 years ago, get over it!’
“I tell him, it’s not that one try, it’s the 500 it stands on. If you’re going to become known as a try scorer it’s like being a gunslinger in the West. Be careful. Because everyone’s going to come after you.
“You have to consistently be the fastest. You have to consistently score tries, like Chris Ashton did, and over time. That reputation is is not earned just from one or two days.”
Sprint training
Offiah tells how, before switching to league, he spent weeks at an athletics club training with sprinters.
“Widnes gave me £1,000 so I could give up my summer job and spend that time in the gym and at the track,” he explains.
“Believe me, training with sprinters is different level and it meant when I got to Widnes I was winning all the sprints, people were going ‘wow, who is this guy?’
“I scored a hat-trick in games over 50 times, you know what I mean? That’s the consistency you need.
“It’s all right being a highlight but what I’d say to Noah is just work on your fundamentals. If you build things slowly over time, it’s going to last.”