Rugby needs to open up more as a sport, says Bath prop Beno Obano

Obano has been producing ‘Prep to Win: Harlequins’ – his second documentary – while overcoming a knee injury.

Beno Obano has directed his second rugby documentary called ‘Prep to Win: Harlequins’ (David Davies/PA) (PA Archive)

England prop turned director Beno Obano has urged rugby to become more open to projects such as his second documentary to help broaden its appeal.

Obano is following up his film debut ‘Everybody’s Game’, which looked at race and class in the game, with ‘Prep to Win: Harlequins’ based on the current Gallagher Premiership champions.

The three-part Prime Video project began with the intention of looking at the entire English league, only for the focus to narrow because of logistics and indifference among some clubs.

“In rugby, it can be difficult to do these sort of things, for people to open up doors. We need to open up more as a sport,” said Obano, speaking at the programme’s launch on Thursday.

“It was just a matter of time before someone wanted to do something like this, so we floated the idea out there.

“Some clubs came back to us and were really interested initially, but it just wasn’t possible. Harlequins were probably the most keen and obviously they are champions, so it worked well.

“It wasn’t about bringing it to a different audience, it was about putting what is already there on screen.

“Hopefully a new audience is a by-product of that because the idea was to make a good film that people enjoy. Hopefully, as a result of that, people will understand rugby a little bit better.”

Obano has been producing ‘Prep to Win’ while overcoming the second serious knee injury of his career and the 27-year-old loosehead hopes to return for his club Bath before the end of the season.