Joe Carpenter interview: "Stuart Lancaster drove me to training when I was five, now I'm playing for England"

That his neighbour was Stuart Lancaster, that the club was West Park Leeds - one of hundreds in Yorkshire that opens its doors to juniors - offered a good base to start from, but the passion, commitment and work ethic that has elevated him towards union’s summit is all Carpenter.

From those enlightening days at West Park to the academy at Yorkshire Carnegie and into the first team at Sale Sharks, Carpenter’s trajectory has been leading him to what could be a breakthrough summer.

For today the 23-year-old wears the Red Rose of England for the first time in a non-cap international with a France XV at Twickenham. Perform well and he should be on the plane to America next week for a summer tour that sees Steve Borthwick’s side play Argentina twice and the United States once.

Today, as he stands with his arms around his team-mates belting out “God Save The King”, his mind is likely to wander back down memory lane to where it all began.

“I was fortunate enough to know Dan Lancaster, and got to know his dad,” begins the Leeds-born full-back.

“My dad was playing golf every Saturday so it was my mum looking for something to do with her kids.

“She spoke to Stuart and asked what can we do? He took us down to West Park with Dan and that kicked everything off. I fell in love with it from that moment.”

This golden opportunity was one Carpenter embraced.

After eight years at West Park he was taken into the Yorkshire Carnegie academy. He was on the verge of the first team when they went out of business. “We just turned up to training one day and there were no coaches there.”

Sale Sharks offered him a pathway, just as they have with other lads from this side of the Pennines who were threatened with falling out of rugby or have come through the now re-established Yorkshire RFU Academy - Tom Burrow, Alfie Longstaff, Tye Raymont.

“There was a bit of talent inside me but also a lot of hard work,” Carpenter tells The Yorkshire Post of his early days.

“You get into the academy system and that pond gets bigger, then onto the club, then you realise you’re not as good as you think, so the graft can never stop, or shouldn’t stop.

“I had great coaches growing up: Stuart (Dixon), Scott Barrow, Ben Lazenby, Steve Salvin. It was a fantastic system at Carnegie and I was gutted it took a turn, but they’re still producing, there’s still boys coming out of that system.

“The work they did at Yorkshire, the academy league, it’s something that really needs to keep going because it’s breeding rugby players and breeding players that can play in the top flight, and they should be proud of that.”

Sale gave him a chance and he has been repaying them in spades. This season the full-back made more yards than any other back in the Gallagher Premiership.

“That’s the job. As a full-back we want to be carrying the ball back, we want to be aggressive, we want to be beating players, we want to be getting into space,” says Carpenter, who, playing off George Ford, got to within one game of reaching last weekend’s Premiership final.

He represented England Under-16s and Under-18s along the way, and last year went on tour with Borthwick’s England to Australia - but didn’t get on the field. It was an experience that left Carpenter not only wanting more but having a greater appreciation of what he needed to do to get better.

“It was eye-opening in terms of the standards you need to hold yourself to and the standards the team needs to be at to compete at international level,” he says.

“The accuracy and speed you need to be at within training and within games is just a massive step up.

“To be able to learn that last year was massive for me; I know what the standard is now, I know what they expect of players, so it’s not so much of a shock.

“It was frustrating, going on tour and not managing to get game time. But you can’t sit on that, you’ve got to be prepared every day in case the opportunity does come, but having that opportunity to get to know the coaches, for them to get to know me, was very valuable.”

And he has utilised those connections by not letting the coaches forget him.

“Wiggy (Richard Wigglesworth) said after the tour if there’s any feedback you ever want, Steve (Borthwick) was the same, then text me, we’ll let you know and get back to you,” says Carpenter. “After a few blocks of five (games) I’d drop them a text and they’d call me back, let me know why I wasn’t in the squad or what I needed to work on, which can be tough to hear but it gave me something to get after and do in the next few games. That has really driven me.”

And now, with Elliot Daly and Marcus Smith touring with the Lions, Carpenter has been given a second chance with England.

“That’s the weird and wonderful thing about rugby, opportunities come in many different ways,” he reasons. “George (Ford) and Freddie (Steward) are going to be competing for that shirt as well so it’s not guaranteed at all. For me it’s taking it day by day and showing them that I could be a good option.”

If he does get the call to feature in the games in Buenos Aires, San Juan or Washington DC next month, there will be a proud old neighbour in Lancaster, plus a mum and dad who will be on the first flight out.

“Mum and dad wouldn’t miss it for the world, they’ll drop everything,” laughs Carpenter.