Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

The Handre Pollard advice that England's Finn Carnduff has lapped up

Finn Carnduff in action last year with England U20s in Cork (Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Finn Carnduff is living the rugby dream. Last Friday night the 19-year-old stepped off the Gallagher Premiership bench to help Leicester see out their win over Harlequins; this Friday night he will skipper the England U20s when they open their Six Nations campaign away to Italy in Treviso. Lovely.

ADVERTISEMENT

He is the third Leicester youngster in succession to be appointed age-grade captain, following in the slipstream of Emeka Ilione and Lewis Chessum, and Tigers’ inner sanctum has been his university regarding how best to skipper a team. Just look at the names he has recently been in the ear of.

“The value you get at playing at such a high level as that and players like Handre Pollard, Jasper Wiese, guys who have won a World Cup, the amount of value they give you with questions they ask and experience they have got, you just learn from them and it makes you a better player.”

Video Spacer

Stuart Lancaster on the mentors Henry Arundell has at Racing 92

Racing 92 coach Stuart Lancaster discusses the mentors young star Henry Arundell will have around him at the club, including Owen Farrell

Video Spacer

Stuart Lancaster on the mentors Henry Arundell has at Racing 92

Racing 92 coach Stuart Lancaster discusses the mentors young star Henry Arundell will have around him at the club, including Owen Farrell

So what words of wisdom have especially stuck in the mind? “It’s just want would you do in certain situations, particularly from Handre’s point of view having the captaincy role, in these pressure situations what are you thinking, how are you staying so cool-headed, how are you not letting the situation get the better of you and making sure you are staying in the moment and not getting too overwhelmed.”

Getting overwhelmed isn’t something you’d fear happening to Carnduff on duty with England. “We have got plenty experience of Finn captaining age-group teams and if we didn’t feel he was the right person for it, we would have given it to someone else,” enthused U20s coach Mark Mapletoft. “He understands the importance of driving high standards and wanting to be the best.”

Fixture
U20 Six Nations
Italy U20
11 - 36
Full-time
England U20
All Stats and Data

Leicester, then, is proving the best pathway for Carnduff’s development. “I have been a Leicester fan my whole life so quite nice to win with them, a bit of a dream come through to play,” he said harking back to last weekend’s 16-minute appearance in London.

“I remember them [Harlequins] scoring the final try and thinking, ‘Oh no, we have lost this game’. And then thankfully we managed to get over the line. Great result and for me, very happy with the honour to play in the Prem. The team win was huge.”

ADVERTISEMENT

His recent increase in size helped. “I have put a bit of weight on, about 110 kilos now,” he replied when asked if the 106kgs listed on the Leicester website at the start of this season was still accurate.

“It doesn’t come easy. I’m sure most boys would say putting weight on is a slow process, a lot of hard work off the pitch both nutrition-wise and in the gym. But if you are disciplined with it all it does come in the end. The hard work pays off

Winning collisions is a huge emphasis for the 6ft 4in England blindside who comfortably doubles up as a lock. “That versatility for me is huge, it’s something I feel a lot of players can use. Having the ability to play multiple positions is valuable.

“Collisions within our game plan, we want to be a physical team and we want to dominate the collision area so it’s something we have been working on and for me, that is another area of my game that I am looking to develop as well.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Italy are always strong, they come with a very good forward pack, a physical team, like to get into an arm wrestle with teams. We completely respect Italy but we are going to go to Treviso and play our game, play the way we want to play and get the result.

“We have got a lot of new lads in, fresh faces which is nice. There was a good group out in South Africa at the back end of last season but it’s nice to get fresh faces, fresh ideas. The overall feeling within the group is excitement. We have had two warm-up games already and we’re ready now to go and play a Test match against Italy.

Related

“A big thing for us is how close can we get as a group, how well can we get to understand each other and know what makes each other tick, what gets each other ready for games, how we best receive feedback. That is the best way to get everything out of a team at the end of the day.

“You are going to play your game but it is a team game. Rugby is 15 guys on a pitch, not yourself, so it is how you can work with the guys around you is the thing you have got to work on more importantly.”

The final word goes to the curiosity that Carnduff is the only player from Leicester named in the England match day 23. Tigers used always be well represented but they are currently in the shade compared to Newcastle, Northampton and Harlequins who each have four players named in Mapletoft’s squad for the round one game in Italy.

“It just shows you the strength of all the academies across England,” reckoned Carnduff. “The boys from Leicester that haven’t made the squad, it just shows you the improvement in academies around the country, they’re getting better and they’re producing players of such high calibre.

“Maybe it’s not a reflection on Leicester but a reflection on the other clubs and how well they are doing. It’s exciting that we can pick players from various clubs (all 10 have representation along with Racing 92). Hopefully, the Premiership in a few years will be an exciting thing with a lot of exciting new players.”

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING England player ratings vs New Zealand | Autumn Nations Series 2024 England player ratings vs New Zealand | Autumn Nations Series 2024
Search