Mark Wilson has taken the Guinness Six Nations by storm in England's back-to-back victories.
The 29-year-old is on course to shatter the championship tackling record. Sportsmail hears from the star and those who know him on his rise to the top...
England flanker Mark Wilson (centre right) is set to shatter the Six Nations tackling record
I remember when I first rocked up at Newcastle. My PE teacher brought me over and there's a one-way system when you get to the club. Jonny Wilkinson was driving out in his Golf and somehow we ended up blocking him in. I thought, 'Oh no! Great start'.
Rob Andrew was in charge of the first team. My mam came to one of the sessions in the summer when he had his little shorts on and had a bit of a moment when he walked past!
The club sent me to play for Blaydon during my second year at uni. Amy (now his wife) was working in the bar. We met at the Christmas party. I was living in a flat with a couple of doormen and it was a rank student flat!
Amy's mum is a proper motherly figure so, instead of going back to the flat for Super Noodles on a Tuesday night, I'd go back to Amy's mam's. She'd have dinner on the table, a bath run, do your washing - happy days! Chicken dinners at Amy's mam's. I used to have a special plate there that was like a serving dish. Proper Geordie family who'd do anything for you. It was nice.
He's come a long way from the schoolboy that first rocked up at Newcastle with his PE teacher
He came over as a teenager for two or three years. We'd just started in the national leagues. Every time he played, everybody talked about Mark Wilson. Someone would always buy him a pint after the match! He was never someone to shirk and people still talk about him that way today. He really bought into the club - he even married our stewardesses' daughter, Amy.
He did the right things. He wasn't one who you heard tales about. His parents are awfully nice people as well. They came to watch his games at Blaydon. Our average gate is probably 200 or 300. If it's Tynedale in the derby then maybe it's 1,500.
We had a reputation for being a 'fendy' club, we would always look after ourselves. It's a Geordie saying. Mark is a fendy bloke. He was always there early, helping out with the coaches, cleaning the changing rooms. You'd never hear anyone say, 'Mark's a lazy bugger'.
Wilson has been described as a 'fendy bloke' by Blaydon secretary Jim Huxley
Mark was not long out of school. There was no doubt about his talent but what stood out was his work ethic. He was a hard-working, humble, good bloke. That's how he is on the pitch.
A lot of the northern clubs had funding disparities, so we needed to be a tight-knit group. Mark really added to that. He had one of the Blaydon youth players running out with him as mascot the other day and that was Mark through and through.
He was 19-years-old but he was absolutely realistic in terms of where he was at. The lads would earn enough for a good night out on the Saturday. Probably £50 a match. He would probably have played for nothing, to be fair to the lad. We were a proper rugby club. We had
