There is a picture on Beno Obano’s Instagram account of his mother, Patricia, holding him and Maro Itoje together as babies. Born three days apart, the cousins this week took part in a senior England training camp together for the first time. Their paths to Brighton, however, could not be more divergent.

In fact, family ties aside, they have little in common. Itoje grew up in leafy Hetfordshire; Obano south of the river in East Dulwich. Itoje wrote poetry; Obano rapped under the handle ‘Sinny’.

Physically, they are polar opposites and reassuring proof that rugby is still a game for all shapes and sizes. Itoje is seven inches taller than his cousin while Obano is several pounds heavier in a short, squat frame perfectly designed for scrummaging.

In terms of personality, Itoje is quiet, thoughtful and open about his Nigerian heritage; Obano, whose laugh echoes through the halls of Bath’s regal Farleigh House, is uproarious company and considers himself a South London boy first, second and third.

From an early age, Itoje was destined for superstardom; Obano, in 2014, for the scrapheap when he was released from the Wasps academy with a debilitating back problem. Only a loan from a friend enabled him to receive two injections that allowed him start a trial at Bath.