Martin Johnson’s son Henry has taken another step towards his Leicester Tigers debut as he looks to follow in his legendary father’s footsteps.<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old forward is now part of Leicester’s Senior Academy and has been included in England’s U20 Elite Player Squad for the 2026\/27 season.<\/p>\n
It’s another big milestone for a youngster hoping to make his own name at Welford Road.<\/p>\n
Johnson signed his first senior academy contract<\/a> in May after impressing during his time at Oakham School.<\/p>\n He has since continued his development, combining rugby with his studies at Loughborough University.<\/p>\n And while his senior competitive debut is still to come, the teenager is certainly heading in the right direction.<\/p>\n Following in famous footsteps<\/p>\n Of course, Henry has some rather big boots to fill.<\/p>\n His dad, Martin, captained England to their historic 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph and became one of Leicester’s greatest-ever players.<\/p>\n The legendary second-row also captained the British & Irish Lions on two tours, a remarkable achievement detailed in his official Lions profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Henry is determined to write his own story.<\/p>\n The youngster has already represented England at U18 level<\/a> and featured for Leicester’s U23 side against England U20s in June.Speaking to The Times<\/a>, Martin admitted the modern academy system is almost unrecognisable compared with his own playing days.<\/p>\n The former England skipper explained that the level of support and intensity surrounding young players has changed enormously.<\/p>\n For Henry, the next challenge is turning that promise into a first-team opportunity.<\/p>\n And Leicester supporters would certainly love to see another Johnson running out at Welford Road.<\/p>\n Five things you might not know about Henry JohnsonFamous father:\u00a0His dad, Martin Johnson, won 84 England caps and lifted the 2003 Rugby World Cup.Versatile forward:\u00a0Henry can operate in the second row or back row.England recognition:\u00a0He has represented England U18s and earned selection for the U20 Elite Player Squad.Springboks inspiration:\u00a0He has named Pieter-Steph du Toit as one of the players he admires.All Blacks connection:\u00a0Henry\u00a0could also qualify to represent New Zealand<\/a>\u00a0through his mother, Kay, subject to international eligibility rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin Johnson’s son Henry has taken another step towards his Leicester Tigers debut as he looks to follow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[256414,261246,5903,118921,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-805066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-england-rugby-news","tag-prem-rugby-news","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-news","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}