![\"Leicester](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/\/38599b90-d5f1-43ec-848f-6fdc90cb559d.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe strapping frame of Emeka Ilione strides into the coffee shop on the ground floor of the University of Nottingham Medical School. He is early, enjoying a welcome break from the library and some renal revision, which involves answering a bank of questions about kidneys in preparation for the final stages of a six-year medical degree. Ilione has 151 days left. The countdown is on. <\/p>\n
It is Wednesday morning and a day off for Leicester Tigers but there is no such thing for Ilione, who has been juggling his studies with a flourishing professional rugby career. Now 23, Ilione broke into the Leicester squad last season, trained with England and he has started games this campaign at both open-side flanker and No8 for Tigers. He is a breakdown fiend and a powerful ball-carrier. <\/p>\n
Ilione\u2019s schedule is so tight that he struggles to find time between his two full-time commitments for driving lessons, so he relies on the train and Uber for his travel between Nottingham and Leicester; training at Tigers in the morning followed by university studies or medical placements into the evening. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ilione describes the hard work required to balance his two full-time commitments as a privilege<\/p>\n
MICHAEL POWELL FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n
The only extra-curricular activity Ilione makes time for is photography. He will walk from the university to capture the scenery at Wollaton Hall, the Elizabethan grade I listed mansion. Ilione shows our photographer some of his favourite shots. \u201cYou avoid relying on filters,\u201d Mike tells him. \u201cThat\u2019s good.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cPhotography is how I switch off,\u201d Ilione says. \u201cWith rugby and medicine, I used to use one to switch off from the other but now they are both so intense I needed something else, a third thing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m someone who wants to be the best at whatever I do. I tried to play the piano but it became another thing for me where I was working so hard mentally. I was like, \u2018I want to do the theory, I want to learn all this.\u2019 But I have learnt through all this that you can\u2019t be relentless all the time. It gets too much. <\/p>\n
\u201cI remember, we beat Stade Fran\u00e7ais away on a Sunday night. We flew back that night and I was on a rotation in the trauma department on the Monday morning. The consultant had been watching the game and was like, \u2018Weren\u2019t you in Paris 12 hours ago? You can go home.\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"Emeka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/\/ac8a3f15-afcd-472e-920e-1101463b6516.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Ilione\u2019s powerful ball-carrying was on display against Northampton Saints<\/p>\n
CRAIG MERCER\/ALAMY<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018The club has a day off. I have got to come in and get my stuff done. I need to be in.\u2019 He was quite shocked. It has been really hard. I need to stay on top of my placements, stay on top of my revision, but I am on the final stretch now\u201d \u2014 151 days to go.<\/p>\n
Ilione\u2019s father is a forensic psychologist, working with mentally ill criminals, and his mother owns a pharmacy. They did not push him towards medicine; quite the opposite in fact. \u201cMy dad is very aware how hard medicine is,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it is a vocation. My parents initially didn\u2019t understand there could be a career in rugby. But you are only one injury away from having it all taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom Rees is a prime example; same position, same vocation. The former Wasps flanker won 15 caps for England before he was forced to retire with a knee injury. He now works as a doctor at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital. <\/p>\n
Jamie Roberts, the former Wales centre, provided a reference to the university on Ilione\u2019s behalf, confirming it was possible to balance a full-time degree with being a professional rugby player. Ilione declined the financial element of his university scholarship because of his rugby income, preferring the money be given to a student who needs it. <\/p>\n
![\"Henry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/\/f13c9ac0-1845-40fc-9312-5fc5e142b0fc.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Henry Pollock, left, and Ilione could be the future of England\u2019s back row<\/p>\n
MALCOLM COUZENS\/GETTY<\/p>\n
Ilione also shares notes with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, the England wing who is studying medicine at the University of Exeter. He speaks regularly with Roberts for advice on managing workload and planning his career post-graduation. <\/p>\n
Roberts finally began his two-year foundation programme this summer, 12 years after graduating. Ilione, who is studying to become a surgeon, plans to follow a similar route. In 151 days\u2019 time he will be clear to dedicate his immediate future to rugby. What will he do with his time?<\/p>\n
Born in Mansfield, Ilione was a promising footballer in the Nottingham Forest academy. \u201cI was never going to make it and even at the age of 11 and 12 you have to miss bits of school,\u201d he says. \u201cMy parents were like, \u2018No that\u2019s not a possibility.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Ilione discovered rugby at Nottingham High School and fell immediately in love with the sport. By the age of 13 he was on Leicester\u2019s development pathway. At 16 he moved to Rugby School, where he was appointed head boy only two terms after arriving. \u201cI must have made a good impression,\u201d he says. He went on to captain England Under-18 and Under-20.<\/p>\n
Ilione\u2019s eyes light up at any mention of his alma mater and the \u201cprivilege\u201d of furthering his career at the birthplace of the sport. \u201cOh my gosh. It is such a special place. The history. To wear the all-white kit. I absolutely loved my time at Rugby. It was really important in my development as a person and a player,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
![\"Emeka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/\/db0e0a04-7b92-4a8c-99c5-21cff160acd7.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Ilione is a powerful runner with the ball in hand, but admits that winning turnovers excites him the most<\/p>\n
MATTHEW LEWIS\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
Before beginning his studies on Wednesday morning, Ilione had watched a re-run of the last five minutes of the 2023 World Cup quarter-final between Ireland and New Zealand. The All Blacks withstood 38 phases of relentless Irish attack before Sam Whitelock locked on to the ball over R\u00f3nan Kelleher to secure the match-winning jackal penalty. <\/p>\n
\u201cWinning turnovers excites me the most,\u201d he says. \u201cI love it when you are in a defensive set. Your team is under the pump and you get the turnover. It\u2019s that feeling where everyone is looking at you for that moment. You know you have contributed for your team-mates. That makes me so happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have a moment like Sam Whitelock would be unbelievable. You know that if you don\u2019t stop them, they will score. You can see the front row just drop to the floor because they have given everything. That for me is a dream. In such a big game as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have worked hard on my jackalling. It is where I can have the biggest impact on games. My technique is from the work I did with Matt Everard [now the Worcester Warriors director of rugby] when he was Leicester\u2019s transition forwards coach. <\/p>\n
\u201cMatt worked with Jack Willis at Wasps. We watched loads of Jack Willis because he is probably the premier jackaller in the world. We do so much homework on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ilione\u2019s guide to the three different types of jackaller1, \u201cPlayers who are so quick over the ball that they are in and out.\u201d Will Evans, the Harlequins flanker, is a prime example.2, \u201cPlayers who are really strong with their feet and can survive the clearout because they are so low.\u201d Willis, with his strength and supreme flexibility, fits into this category.3, \u201cPlayers who are a bit more unconventional, like Courtney Lawes, who use their longer limbs to get on the ball and are so good at then using their feet, so even when you think you\u2019ve cleared them out, they are still on the ball. I like to think I am in that category but I am trying to work on adding it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n
For all his ability to compartmentalise his life, this is Wednesday morning and Ilione is already having to fight the urge to get too hyped about playing Bath this weekend in a rerun of last season\u2019s Prem final and competing against such quality back-row opponents as Sam Underhill and Miles Reid.<\/p>\n
![\"Emeka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/\/fd05ce97-c98c-4874-a1b5-76f217f4e206.jpg\")
<\/p>\n