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The 'right on the edge' hunch Gloucester have about Jack Singleton
By Liam Heagney
Gloucester boss George Skivington has praised hooker Jack Singleton for his can-do attitude in offsetting his England frustrations by putting in top-drawer performances for his Gallagher Premiership club. The 26-year-old was capped twice by Eddie Jones and was part of his country’s 2019 World Cup squad, but he has been left on the fringes since then, making do with a couple of training camp call-ups in recent times.
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It’s a difficult position to square off, playing consistently well in the Premiership and loitering on the England fringes, but Skivington believes Singleton has played to his strengths in not allowing his awkward international squad situation to affect his club performances.
Having joined Gloucester ahead of the post-lockdown resumption of the 2019/20 campaign in August 2020, Skivington enjoyed his best season at the club last term, starting in 19 of his 21 Premiership appearances.
Singleton has since opened the new season as his team’s starting choice at hooker in the win over Wasps and is now poised to feature again at Saracens, the club he left to join Gloucester two years ago initially on loan before a full-time move was agreed.
“It is always a challenge when you get that high line and possibly you come away from it a little bit. Maybe it was a little bit too early for Jack that first bit. I’m not sure, that’s ultimately Eddie’s decision as to why he didn’t feature as much. But I think we all know Jack is right on the edge,” said Skivington to RugbyPass.
“Jack is a quality player, he is a massive part of this squad. He has been playing really good rugby. He has been in a very good set-piece and he has been an important part of why our set-piece is so strong. From Jack’s point of view, he is probably mature enough now in his rugby life to not worry too much about it and just focus on doing well for his club.
“A lot of players get to that point where you get a bit in, you get thrown out and you end up sitting on the edge a bit and you just come to the realisation that I need to focus on what I am doing at my club, work really hard, play well and then whatever comes off the back of that comes.
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“There have been a few lads like that here over the last twelve months who actually understand the important bit and the rest will come off the back of it rather than worrying about international selectors looking in and picking them and saying what and whatnot because ultimately if you are not playing well for your club you are not playing for your country.”
