Jamie George ready to claim his first England start after giving Eddie Jones plenty to ponder during Lions tour
Despite having three Lions Test starts under his belt, the Saracens hooker is yet to start for his country
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Your support makes all the difference.There’s an interesting battle ahead for which has been brewing for the best part of two years, and it has the potential to become one of the stories of the season when it comes to English rugby.
On one corner of the ring stands the unified champion, Dylan Hartley, the England captain who has led England to back-to-back Six Nations championships, an 18-match winning streak and tour whitewashes in Australia and Argentina – not a bad résumé to say the least.
In the other stands Jamie George, the multiple-European Cup winner who has started three British and Irish Lions tests yet has not found a way to oust Hartley from the England No 2 shirt. The boxing analogy may be a little strong given the pair have formed the strongest duel- hooker attack in world rugby, but it’s the latter that has his sights set firmly on ousting the former to become an England regular.
After admitting on the Lions tour that he hoped his performances would give England head coach Eddie Jones something to think about, the 26-year-old has already met with the Australian since arriving back from New Zealand.
However, in true Jones form the discussion was not about reflecting on what he did in Warren Gatland’s side, but what he can do his own ahead of the autumn internationals in November and beyond to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
“I’ve seen him,” George tells The Independent about speaking to his international coach. “There’s always conversations going on, but it’s more about me making sure I’m the best player I can be rather than being too focused on getting one position and being selected or not. I’ve got a few big work-ons with him and I’ll do everything I can to achieve those.”
The Saracens hooker capped yet another impressive year by being part of the side that won a second European Champions Cup in May, before following it up with a starting role in the Lions’ drawn series against the All Blacks. If that’s not enough for Jones to sit up and take note of, then there’s little else George can do this season to give him no alternative than to select him ahead of Hartley.
And reflecting on whether his performances will have grabbed Jones’ attention, George adds: “I hope so.
“I was happy generally with how I performed out there. It was tough, the last Test, with the way that it panned out but at the same time it was a good achievement, so I hope I’ve given him something to think about. You know Eddie, he’s always watching games and he’ll watch every game that he can get involved with so it was good out there.”
The best thing that George can do is pick up where he left off with Saracens as the Premiership returns this weekend. Unfortunately, the 82,000 that cram into Twickenham for Saturday’s double-header will not get to see George, with Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall resting all of his Lions bar Maro Itoje and George Kruis for the opening game against Northampton Saints, before Harlequins wrap the day up against the returning London Irish.
With a remarkable 24 tries under his belt in 167 club appearances, it would be easy to think that George is already the finished article. But he knows he still has plenty to prove on the club stage as well as the international fold, and it’s for that reason that he will not set any personal goals this season other than making sure his rugby does the talking.
“What I did with Eddie I’ll do with Mark as well, sit down and see where I need to improve and see how I can get better,” he said. “I’ll put everything into making sure I can do that, and instead of setting myself aims and goals, I feel it’s better to just focus on myself and aim to keep getting better.”
It’s alarming that the form Premiership hooker for the last three years believes he can get better, but he’s going to have to if he’s going to oust Hartley, who starts for Saints at Twickenham against Sarries. The England skipper knows he’s under pressure, having taken on the Northampton Saints captaincy after a two-year hiatus in an effort to strengthen his chances of keeping the role with England, and it’s for this reason that George knows he must prove to Jones that he has no other option than to hand him the first start he so desperately wants.
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