By his own admission, Zach Mercer is “the last one hanging on”. It is less of a case of the next cab off the rank, more of the last, but one of Eddie Jones’s apprentices looks likely to finally win his first England cap this autumn. Amid England’s back‑row crisis through injury and suspension, opportunity knocks for Mercer.
In truth, he is not doing himself justice and Todd Blackadder, not one prone to hyperbole, describes the 21-year-old No 8 as Bath’s form player of the season so far and as having “the best feet in the game at the moment”. But perhaps therein lies the problem for a player previously perceived as flashy in attack but suspect in defence.
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Mercer, however, believes that is an outdated view. He is used to watching what he eats but now England are doing so too, on a daily basis, and while he is never going to be the size of someone like Billy Vunipola or Nathan Hughes, he believes he is now blending his footwork with a ferocity in defence.
“Everyone knew me as this attacking player last season and I wanted to change that perception,” says Mercer, who weighed in at 111kg at the start of the campaign. “I’m in better shape this year, stronger, more physical and I feel like I’m making more dominant tackles, holding players up at the breakdown, stuff that I couldn’t do before. It’s an area of my game that I’ve still got a lot to improve on with attack and defence but hopefully the mindset of people watching is that he can defend as well as attack.
“As long as I’m getting bigger and stronger but can still move in the same way I have done before. I know that if I get too heavy I won’t be able to do what I want to do on the ball. It’s about getting that balance right and at the moment I think I’ve got the balance perfect.”
I always knew I didn’t want to play for Scotland. No offence to them, they helped me along the way
It is after all, “what he does on the ball” that sets him apart and it was his performances in the 2017 Junior World Cup, captaining England to the final, that brought Mercer to the attention of a wider audience. His age-grade pathway was not the most straightforward however, and when his father, Gary – who played rugby league for New Zealand – moved the family from Yorkshire to Glasgow when Zach was a child, Scotland honours were forthcoming. He represented Scotland at under-nder-16 level, but his move to Bath prompted a swift change of allegiance.
“When I was in Scotland, I kind of … not used them but I was there and that was the easiest thing for me to do,” he said. “But I always knew I didn’t want to play for Scotland. No offence to them, they helped me along the way but I always knew I wanted to play for England.”
Like fellow England squad members George Ford and Owen Farrell, he has roots in rugby league – his No 1 dream is to win his first cap, his second to run out at Headingley – but there was only ever one code for Mercer. “I always watched league, I never watched my dad play but I remember always being in the south stand at Headingley,” Mercer says.
“Singing along on a little box, I was too small so I had to stand on that. I never got pushed to play though, my dad always pushed me towards union. I’d never say never to league though, my dream has always been to play at Headingley in front of the south stand so you never know.
“I think my dad probably knew league was a bit of a thug’s game. He probably thought I wasn’t tough enough to play it – it is up and down, smashing each other and my skillset is probably better suited to union.”
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Mercer is close to his New Zealand family – he travels back to the South Island every summer and his grandfather is going to come and watch him in the flesh for the first time around Christmas. It may have happened earlier – Mercer found himself disillusioned at Bath when waiting for a debut and was eager to spend a year in New Zealand, much like players such as Nathan Earle and Tom Wood have done in the past.
“It wasn’t as I expected it to be, I wasn’t playing rugby I was just in the gym doing training and I wasn’t very happy. I wanted to go and have a year out and play rugby in New Zealand but Barry Maddocks, who was the academy manager, and Stuart Hooper told me to give it a chance and a couple of weeks later I was starting my first game in the Premiership. If I look back now it was probably one of the best decisions I made.”