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Jack van Poortvliet set to play first match since his England injury
By Liam Heagney
Jack van Poortvliet is poised to make his comeback seven months after an ankle injury ruled him out of the Rugby World Cup with England.
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The 22-year-had had been named on August 7 in Steve Borthwick’s squad for the finals, but his trip to France 2023 was scuppered five days later by a first-half setback versus Wales in the Summer Nations Series.
His unavailability resulted in Alex Mitchell being called up and the Northampton scrum-half has since made the No9 Test shirt his own as he has started in 10 of England’s last 13 matches.
Thirty-two weeks after his injury, van Poortvliet has now been named on the Leicester bench for Friday night’s Gallagher Premiership game at home to Gloucester, who beat the Tigers 13-23 in last weekend’s Premiership Rugby Cup final at Kingsholm.
The inclusion of van Poortvliet isn’t the only selection to catch the eye as Freddie Steward, who was dropped by England following their Guinness Six Nations round two win over Wales on February 10, is set to play his first match since that omission.
Ollie Chessum and Dan Cole, starters for England in their final match of the championship last Saturday away to France, have also been named to start as has openside Tommy Reffell, who was involved with Wales in their defeat versus Italy.
Leicester head coach Dan McKellar told the club website: “It’s great to have the whole group back together. The international boys have worked hard to reintegrate themselves and they are ready to go and we are focused on delivering a performance in front of our home crowd.
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“It’s fair to say we’re all really pleased for Jack to see him back fit, healthy and wearing a Tigers jersey.”
Leicester (vs Gloucester, Friday)
15. Freddie Steward [81]
14. Josh Bassett [13]
13. Dan Kelly [76]
12. Solomone Kata [13]
11. Ollie Hassell-Collins [15]
10. Handre Pollard [27]
9. Ben Youngs [312]
1. James Cronin [28]
2. Julian Montoya [53]
3. Dan Cole [317]
4. Harry Wells [192
5. Ollie Chessum [53]
6. Hanro Liebenberg [101]
7. Tommy Reffell [109]
8. Jasper Wiese [72]
Replacements:
16. Finn Theobald-Thomas [9]
17. James Whitcombe [48]
18. Joe Heyes [138]
19. Kyle Hatherell [16]
20. Olly Cracknell [36]
21. Jack van Poortvliet [66]
22. Jamie Shillcock [21]
23. Phil Cokanasiga [13]
Solid premiership 9 but he slow the ball down too much at the base for international rugby.
He needs to add pace and a far better pass togethermore sniping to his game.