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The giddy prediction England have made about Henry Arundell

(Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Steve Borthwick has insisted he is right to hand Henry Arundell his first England Test start at the age of just 20 in Saturday’s massive Grand Slam decider versus Ireland. The unbeaten Irish are raging hot favourites to complete a championship clean sweep for just the fourth time in their history against an English team that has limped into Dublin on the back of their humiliating 53-10 home defeat to France.

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Borthwick reacted by making four changes to his starting team and he claimed he has no qualms over including the rookie Arundell at the expense of Max Malins. The London Irish youngster burst onto the international scene when scoring a try with his first touch when debuting off the bench versus Australia last July.

He was capped twice more as a sub on that tour and having since recovered from a serious foot injury that required an operation, he has now been backed for his first England start after three more appearances off the bench, cameos that included a try versus Italy in Six Nations round two and that bizarre, token 80th-minute introduction in the following round in Wales.

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While his match minutes have been restricted, Borthwick claimed that what he had seen on the training ground in Pennyhill was the reason why England have now handed Arundell his maiden Test start. “He is a young player with an enormous future in front of him,” he reckoned.

“It is really important that we think he is the right player to play in this game. We have seen glimpses of him. Unfortunately for the first half of this season, he has not played an awful lot of rugby due to injury but seeing what he has been producing in training, he is an incredibly exciting player.

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“You see a number of young players that are experiencing substantial game time in the Six Nations for the first time. It’s Henry’s first Six Nations, JVP (Jack van Poortvliet), Alex Mitchell, Ollie Lawrence, Alex (Dombrandt), Lewis (Ludlam), Ben Curry and these guys – this is enormous for us to really understand where we are and what we need to prioritise.

“Henry is a very composed, calm young man and he has got the capability to excel in international rugby.”

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Handing Arundell just his seventh cap in preference of giving Malins what would have been his 18th underlined the element of inexperience existing in some areas of Borthwick’s England XV against a more experienced Ireland. However, the coach insisted his England team will be up for the challenge after last week’s harrowing loss to France.

“We know what a good side they [Ireland] are and you can see that, I think it is over 1,000 caps they have got in their 23. The experience they have got is enormous. We know we are going to have to be much improved from last week and I know the players are determined to put in that much-improved performance. Their attitude has been excellent.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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