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England wing Anthony Watson in the 'top one per cent'

Anthony Watson of Leicester warms up ahead of the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Bristol Bears and Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate on December 03, 2022 in Bristol, England. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)

Anthony Watson’s latest remarkable return from serious injury has seen Leicester Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick rate the England and British and Irish Lions wing in the “top one per cent” of players he has been involved with.

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Given Borthwick made a remarkable 265 Premiership appearances for Bath and Saracens – second only to fellow Tigers coach Richard Wigglesworth – captained England while winning 57 caps and helped coach Japan and England, means he has seen a lot of very good players during his career

Watson was signed from Bath by Borthwick ahead of this season while he was completing his recovery from ACL knee reconstruction and his battle against serious injury includes two Achilles ruptures in the space of 12 months.

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He will be on the wing against Clermont Auvergne in the Heineken Champions Cup tomorrow at Mattioli Woods Welford Road having helped the club defeat Ospreys last weekend with a brilliant solo try to remind everyone of his footwork and speed.

Borthwick, who could be making his final appearance at home as Tigers head coach before replacing Eddie Jones as England’s supremo, said: “Anthony is ultra, ultra-professional and the amount of time he spends in addition to team training to prepare and recover is phenomenal and he is up there in the top one per cent I have ever seen.

“He works very closely with Aled Walters (head of physical performance) and our medical team and has a programme outside the team training and also does all the team training. He has shown a robustness and resilience to add to that ultra professionalism.”

Watson has joined an outstanding group of young players that Borthwick believes will ensure a successful future – no matter who is in charge at Tigers. He added: “Ultimately, I’ve have to build a new team since I came in here two years ago and sign players from around the world. But at the same point in time, underneath coming through has been this core group: James Whitcombe, Joe Heyes, George Martin, Ollie Chessum, Lewis Chessum, Tommy Reffell, Jack van Poortvliet, Dan Kelly, Guy Porter, Freddie Steward and Harry Potter – I may have missed some. I see a group that is very, very tight.”

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S
SK 1 hour ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Set pieces are important and the way teams use them is a great indication of how they play the game. No team is showcasing their revolution more than the Springboks. This year they have mauled less and primarily in the attacking third. Otherwise they have tended to set like they are going to maul and then play around the corner or shove the ball out the back. They arent also hitting the crash ball carrier constantly but instead they are choosing to use their width or a big carrying forward in wider areas. While their maul is varied the scrum is still a blunt instrument winning penalties before the backs have a go. Some teams have chosen to blunt their set piece game for more control. The All Blacks are kicking more penalties and are using their powerful scrum as an attacking tool choosing that set piece as an attacking weapon. Their willingness to maul more and in different positions is also becoming more prominent. The French continue to play conservative rugby off the set piece using their big bruisers frequently. The set piece is used differently by different teams. Different teams play different ways and can be successful regardless. They can win games with little territory and possession or smash teams with plenty of both. The game of rugby is for all types and sizes and thats true in the modern era. I hope that administrators keep it that way and dont go further towards a Rugby League style situation. Some administrators are of the opinion that rugby is too slow and needs to be sped up. Why not rather empower teams to choose how they want to play and create a framework that favours neither size nor agility. That favours neither slow tempo play or rock n roll rugby. Create a game that favour both and challenge teams to execute their plans. If World Rugby can create a game like that then it will be the ultimate winner.

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J
JW 6 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

147 Go to comments
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