For some people the road to the top is painfully long and winding. Joe Heyes used to be a player whose dreams of making England’s matchday squad were constantly dashed. Driving home from Bagshot, having been omitted yet again, he would listen to Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues – “I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t when …” – and wonder if the hardship and sacrifice would ever be worth it.
And now? Less than two years later he is suddenly the most important player in England. The national management have already lost two injured tightheads in Will Stuart and Asher Opoku-Fordjour plus the loosehead prop Fin Baxter. If they had enough cotton wool England would be wrapping the now indispensable Heyes up in it.
It just shows how sporting fortunes can change if you keep going. Rejection, disappointment, self-doubt … the 26-year-old has experienced it all. At one point in his awkward teenage years – “I went through a pretty tough patch mentally when I was 16 or 17” – he ballooned in weight to 145kg. And yet here he is, the foundation stone of an England pack looking to make a serious impact in this year’s Six Nations.
Where to start? As a kid – he was 100kg (15st 10lb) at the age of 11 – his original ambition was to play in goal for Nottingham Forest. His father had already done so and his grandfather had been a professional keeper for Leicester and Swansea, so the family lineage was strong. Until, one day, the dream died. “It was quite difficult in the Forest academy. I was always second string and after a while I thought, ‘I’m not doing that’.”
Happily, he wandered down to Moderns RFC in Nottingham and found his tribe. Torturous sessions on the Wattbike in Leicester’s academy reduced his weight to a more nimble 114kg – at 6ft 2in he is back about 126kg these days – but on-field progress was a slower burn. His route to regular first-team rugby at Tigers was blocked by the ageless Dan Cole – “I was convinced the man was superhuman” – and Logovi’i Mulipola and his “frustrating” early England days as a fringe squad member also sapped his spirit. “There were a couple of times driving back up to Leicester after being released on a Tuesday or a Thursday when I’d think, ‘I don’t want to do this any more’.” Johnny Cash’s anthems – particularly Highwayman and American Remains – became his weekly therapy.
Ultimately, the turning point was a “tough” England tour to Japan and New Zealand in the summer of 2024 where he never featured. The management basically told him it was time to up his defensive game and scrummaging consistency. “I thought, ‘Right, this is it, this is my turnaround.’ In my notebook I wrote, ‘Next year is my year.’”
A pep talk from then Leicester coach Michael Cheika also proved pivotal. “He’s a very confident, successful man and he empowered me a little bit. He basically said, ‘You’re a tighthead. Just run, scrum and hit.’ I thought, ‘OK, I can do that.’ That broke me out of the ‘doom loop’ spiral I was in.”
For better or worse he also decided to have a more positive mindset – “Before I probably didn’t like my own company” – and to embrace his quirky side. A massive history buff – “I spent far too much time in the toilet reading Horrible Histories” – he can currently be found masquerading, among other things, as a Napoleonic soldier in a role-playing online wargame.
In addition the engaging Heyes – “I’d like to think I’m a very kind person” – is an unapologetic fan of long country walks and decent food. “I’m a big fan of cooking with butter. I’m not massive on supplements. If I want to get my protein, I want to eat something nice. I don’t want to waste it on a shake.” Before travelling out to England’s training camp in Spain, he spent three hours preparing ramen broth for his girlfriend, Anita. So far, though, he has resisted posting his culinary triumphs on social media. “I saw Chris Robshaw’s Beef Wellington. Pretty horrendous, wasn’t it?”
By now something else should be clear: Heyes is properly good fun. He tells a particularly hilarious tale about competing as a junior hammer thrower in regional finals in Birmingham – “I had three throws and didn’t get any of them out of the cage” – and admits to an occasionally childish sense of humour. “I went back to Ireland for Christmas to see family and we went past a ‘reduce speed now’ sign which had the ‘s’ and the ‘d’ missing. I couldn’t tell my brother why I was laughing …”
There is even a hint of the absurd about his current home, an 18th-century Grade II-listed cottage in a Leicestershire village with almost comically low doorways. “My girlfriend is 5ft 5in and I’m envious of her. I’ve had people hitting the bridge of their nose walking in. Getting a nosebleed isn’t a nice welcome to a house.” The dull monotony of many pro sporting lives, gloriously, is for others. “People try and fit into moulds and try and be something they’re not. I think, ‘Screw that.’ If you’re an individual just be yourself. If you’ve got something quirky about you then let’s see it.”
The more upbeat Heyes feels the better he seems to play. He wore the No 3 jersey in the wins over Australia, Fiji and New Zealand in November and is now within touching distance of his first Six Nations start, although rooming with the 20-year-old Bath prodigy Billy Sela this week has banished any complacency. “You just look at him and think: ‘These youngsters are superhuman freaks. I wasn’t in that shape when I was 20.’”
So roll on the Six Nations. With an Irish mum and a dad with Welsh heritage – “My dad’s English but if the football’s on and it’s England v Wales he’ll be supporting Wales” – this tournament particularly resonates. “It was always my dream to play in the Six Nations when I first started rugby. My mum wears an Irish hat and an England scarf, or vice versa. I think that’s great … it’s what it’s all about.”
Now is his opportunity to repay all those who have assisted him on his long journey. “I couldn’t have done it without my family. They kept prodding me to keep doing it. People see 23 players turn up at the weekend but there’s so much that goes on in the background.” In retrospect, he is now grateful for the hard times. “It would be boring if everything always went well. A lot of my hardships have made me who I am.”
So good luck to England’s cheerful linchpin, an inspiration to “bin juice” survivors everywhere. As he puts it: “The story’s not over but it’s a nice story of resilience and sticking at it.” Here’s hoping they play some Johnny Cash at Twickenham next Saturday. Or maybe The Bangles. Because, finally, it’s a Heyes-y shade of winter.
