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The Felix Jones comment about Harry Randall that delighted Bristol
By Liam Heagney
Pat Lam has spoken about his admiration at seeing Harry Randall bounce back from adversity to win his first England cap in two years last June. Injury and lack of form left the Bristol half-back surplus to requirement at international level, a predicament not helped by Steve Borthwick taking over as Test boss from Eddie Jones.
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However, feedback delivered by Borthwick last year to the Bears No9 proved invaluable and Randall made his England comeback in the Tokyo win over Japan. The 26-year-old needed just eight minutes off the bench as a 50th-minute replacement for Alex Mitchell to score a try in the 52-17 win.
Randall wasn’t selected in the match day 23 for the follow-on two-game series in New Zealand, as Borthwick chose Ben Spencer as sub scrum-half in those two matches. But Bristol were nevertheless chuffed with Randall’s tour and they have high hopes for him in the new Gallagher Premiership campaign which begins with a Friday night trip to Newcastle.
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Asked by RugbyPass for his thoughts on Randall successfully fighting his way back into the England mix, Bears director of rugby Lam said: “So pleased for Harry because he is a big leader, he has captained this team, he is huge in our group. But what I was really pleased about, I remember Steve gave him some feedback a year ago after the World Cup talking about the speed of the ball, obviously with the way they wanted to change the play.
“They had their metrics and the challenge for Harry was to try and be one of the quicker persons at delivering the ball. And then in his recent feedback, Steve complimented Harry on he is one of the quickest if not the quickest to give the ball. We are really pleased with that because obviously the way we play, that is the same metric we put on him.
“He has grown his understanding, his experience and his conditioning. Then the alignment of the goals that we want, and particularly the way that England are playing now which is great, there is still work ons for him but his ability and his speed around that breakdown and the threat he has around the fringes is huge.
“He has come back from that tour, obviously like all the players he would have liked more game time but he has to earn that and he is right in that picture. It was pleasing to hear Steve talk about his influence in that culture and that environment because again it mirrors what he is doing here.
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“We expect big things from Harry. There is some great nines and Alex Mitchell is obviously in the way and there is some very good nines in the Premiership. I love that because he knows that too; they will bring the best out of him and he knows to stay in that England environment he has got to compete and play very well for us which I am confident he will do.”
The story of how Randall bounced back from his adversity in recent years to re-gain England selection is the sort of inspiring rugby story that Lam loves most. “Spot on, that is my favourite type of player, favourite person, the people who go through adversity, build resilience and come back and bounce back.
“He is recognised as a huge talent and even Felix Jones commented to us about he is probably the best defending nine. He does a lot of work with Jordan Crane (at Bristol) and, pound for pound, the reads that he makes, he is just amazing. You look at some of the clean outs he does, the physical stuff he does, he is only 70-odd kilos but it just shows his heart and where he puts his body. Very, very pleased and to have him here is huge for us.”
So brizzle want the ball fast but it’s only when the England coach demands it that Randall deliver. I’d be pretty pi$$ed if I was lam…