Alfie could become The Boss – but not yet

The Alfie Barbeary bandwagon was rolling at ever-increasing speed along the road to Twickenham until he picked up an injury last weekend and it will take plenty of stopping the moment he returns, being a Barbeary-sized vehicle.

- CHRIS HEWETT

The Wasps forward is being lauded to the high heavens as “the future of English rugby”, just as Bruce Springsteen was once labelled “the future of rock’n’roll”. No pressure, then.

And that’s the point. The “pressure point”, you might say. Springsteen has spent the last 40-odd years surpassing lofty initial expectations by a factor best measured in the thousands, but not without experiencing the agonies of doubt and crises of confidence that so often afflict those heralded as better than everyone else before they are fully equipped to prove it.

Barbeary, bearded and moustachioed but barely out of his teens, has yet to deal with “second season syndrome” for the very good reason that his first full season still has months to run. Those who argue for his immediate inclusion in the England team are therefore talking through their trilbies.

He may have scored tries for fun thus far, but once opponents take a proper look at him with a view to identifying his weaknesses and working out ways of exposing them, the laughter will stop for a while. It’s in the nature of things.