HeadlinesBriefing favicon HeadlinesBriefing.com

From viral mascot to England U18 rugby prospect

BBC Sport •
×

Eleven years after his heart-felt rendition of the national anthem as a six-year-old mascot went viral under the hashtag #DoItLikeHarry, Harry Westlake is now an England U18s rugby prospect. The 17-year-old back row, part of Exeter's academy, has been named in an England training camp ahead of a France warm-up and April's U18 Six Nations Festival in Vichy.

Westlake's journey includes a position shift from aspiring fly-half to a hard-running forward, modelling his game on Ben Earl. His path has been complicated by Crohn's disease, a chronic condition requiring medication every eight weeks and causing significant energy fluctuations that he manages while pursuing his dream.

While his childhood fame is well-known to his close friends from his early playing days, his new England teammates are unaware. Westlake is already envisioning a future where he sings the anthem from the pitch, determined to earn a senior England cap within five years and relive that iconic moment as a player.