‘I felt like I was fighting for ages’ - Max Ojomoh gets his long overdue Twickenham debut

Friday, 21 November 2025 at 16:42

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By Jack Humphreys

Max Ojomoh can often be found with a smile on his face, but when he joined us in the media room for his last interview before his Twickenham debut against Argentina tomorrow he was smiling ear to ear.

A long time coming

It’s been a long road to Twickenham for Ojomoh. He was first called into a training squad in 2021 during the Eddie Jones era, he never got in the 23 under Jones but the Australian saw talent there earlier than most.

Four years later Ojomoh earned a place in the matchday squad under Borthwick making his debut at 12 against the USA on the last leg of the summer tour in July.

Ojomoh is used to doing it the hard way, he was a fringe player at Bath until recently and since has made himself a stalwart at 12 in Somerset.

We asked Ojomoh if it felt like a long time coming.

“Yeah, to be fair, it does. But it's been good, because I had the same for my Premiership debut. I felt like I was fighting for ages, and then got on the team, and I felt like I took to it like a duck to water, because I'd waited that long and I'd seen the process in my head.

“I'm hoping it's the same tomorrow. I've been waiting for this moment. I've been in many camps.

“I've trained against the best at Bath and England, and now I get to play against the best.”

There’s levels to this game

Ojomoh has played at Twickenham before, last year he played a key role in Bath’s Premiership triumph against Liecester.

When asked how he thought the atmosphere might differ from club to international.

He said: “I think being in the final last year, that kind of gave me a taste of what it could feel like. So I'm sort of mentally prepared.

“Guy Pepper was saying it's like 20 times the final, though. It's like the energy and buzz in the stadium. So I'm quite excited.

“Not too sure what to expect, but it'll be good to live in the moment.”

An Ojomoh has played in white at Twickenham, Max’s dad Steve Ojomoh. Ojomoh Snr got 12 caps for England between 1994-98.

‘Home away from home’

Following Bath’s recent resurgence and title winning ways many of Ojomoh’s club teammates are also in the England squad and thriving.

These include; Guy Pepper, Ben Spencer, Ollie Lawrence, Charlie Ewels, Henry Arundell, Beno Obano and Will Stuart.

I asked Ojomoh if this helped him.

He said: “Yeah, definitely. It's a piece of home, away from home, so to speak. I've got lads around me in the team, and I know their attacking and defensive tendencies, so I can almost work off that.

“It almost builds the chemistry within the squad. So it's definitely good to have them around, and have them around camp, really. It's good for the mental space.”

Another of Ojomoh’s club teammates will be suiting up for Argentina this Sunday, Santi Carreras.

When asked what he thought of his new teammate Ojomoh was succinct.

He said: “Absolute baller.”

“Extremely skilful player. He could probably play most positions in the back line. I enjoy competing against him in training and I'll enjoy competing against him tomorrow.”

Billy no mates and a student of the game

Ojomoh went on tour to Argentina in July but he didn’t get to play against them.

He said: “I was pretty heartbroken not to play against them on tour.

“But as a student of the game, I obviously got to watch the games.

“I would like to say that tour made me as prepared to play against Argentina specifically than it would any other team, because we watched two tests.”

When asked how he was preparing for this test Ojomoh started laughing.

He said: “The lads actually won't see me. I'll be in my room, just...honestly, billy no mates in my room. There's some good games of rugby today actually, so I'll be watching those.

I've got some clips that I've asked one of the analysts to get for me. I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to analysing the opposition, so I'll go through them, make my notes and then prepare mentally for tomorrow.

It seems England have found a centre who loves watching rugby as much as playing it, and I for one am looking forward to watching him for many years to come.