5 Uncapped England hopefuls who Impressed: Premiership Rugby Round 8
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With just two days left until Christmas, we are stampeding towards the end of 2024. The countdown continues towards the 2025 Guinness Six Nations, which kicks off across the 31st January to 2nd of February. England kick off their campaign with an away trip to Ireland, and these five uncapped hopefuls certainly put there hands up for a place in the squad.
England head coach Steve Borthwick will pencil out a wider training group mid-way through January, with the side set for an intensive training camp in Girona, Spain to heat up their preparations for Dublin. This past weekend of the Gallagher Premiership saw stand-out performances from the following five uncapped England hopefuls, who will all be gunning for a place in on the plane ahead of the upcoming Six Nations competition.
1. Gabriel Ibitoye (Bristol Bears)
After yet another headline-making performance for Bristol Bears, it is almost becoming expectation to see Gabriel Ibitoye named in Steve Borthwick’s England squad next month. The wing has arguably been the best wide-man in the Premiership this season, with fans from the West Country and beyond clambering to see Ibitoye get his due-diligence and a long awaited England Test debut.
Ibitoye put in a scintillating performance against Leicester Tigers, with Ruck’s Midland’s Reporter George Wellbelove awarding the wing a 9/10 in his player ratings. Ibitoye crossed over for a try in the demolition job of the Tigers, with his try-scoring tally for the season creeping up to eight scores in all competitions. The former Harlequins man earned some international recognition this past Autumn, as he was called up to the England A set up that defeated Australia A, at Ibitoye’s former home of the Stoop.
2. Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby)
Picking up the Player of the Match Award from Gloucester’s hard-fought shut out of Harlequins, Seb Atkinson was excellent in the 14-0 win for the Cherry and Whites. With the centres being an area of England’s squad that is not blessed with an abundance of depth, Atkinson could be an outside shout for an England debut if the likes of Henry Slade or Ollie Lawrence get ruled out for a fixture.
Atkinson has been a consistent driver of the Gloucester squad this season, with his back-line partnership outisde of Gareth Anscombe delighting the Kingsholm faithful. The Anglo-Welsh axis was out in full force against Quins under the latest Friday night lights, with Atkinson bringing his brand of hot-stepping attacking flair to the bitterly cold Gloucesterhire evening. Equally adept as a powerful crash ball runner, or as a savvy, heads-up ball playing midfielder, Borthwick could well look to utilise the Gloucester man amongst his wider training squad at some stage next year.
3. Jack Clement (Gloucester Rugby)
We stick with the Cherry and Whites for our third entry, as back row bruiser Jack Clement had an exceptional game, that he capped off with a try against Harlequins on Friday night. Watching the action at Kingsholm was Ruck Reporter Matt Priest, who was full of praise for the flanker in his Player Ratings. “9/10. One of, if not, the best players on the pitch this evening, Clement scored one and was a main part of the maul which helped set up the other. He did everything you ask a flanker to do and did it all superbly, breakdown, carries, open play all sublime. Another very strong performance in what has been a great season so far.”
England’s back row ranks are rather stacked in the depth charts, with Clement contending with the likes of Chandler Cunningham-South, Sam Underhill and Ben Curry to even get a glimpse at the six shirt. Then throw in the likes of versatile back rows Ben Earl, Tom Curry and Ethan Roots on the fringes, and there is a real wrestle for places to get into the squad for the Six Nations. Regardless of whether he gets the nod for a spot in the wider training squad, Clement played a blinder against Harlequins, with his work rate testament to his efforts around the park.
4. Gabriel Oghre (Bristol Bears)
Back with the Bristolian brilliance, and back in with the Gabriel’s that were the Bear’s resident angel’s for the latest Christmas cracker at Welford Road. Oghre scored the first two tries for the visitors, and promptly got the frozen West Country away supporters something to jump up and cheer about in the chilly West Midlands evening. Oghre was at the everything that was good for Bristol’s performance, despite later picking up a yellow card as one of many infringements from Pat Lam’s side.
However, Bristol were in a comfortable position by the time Oghre headed to the sin bin, as the Bears had already sunk their claws into the tigers for an impressive 54-24 away win. Whilst Oghre has been involved in some previous England camps, the hooker has not been able to progress into a place within the match day 23 as of yet. The former Wasps and Bordeaux-Begles man earned an England A start in the aforementioned Autumn win against the Aussies, and could well be on his way to reinforce the ranks for Borthwick once again in the 2025 Six Nations.
5. George Hendy (Northampton Saints)
Rounding off our five-man shortlist this week is George Hendy, as the Northampton Saints fullback had an impressive outing in green, black and gold. Despite coming away on the losing side of the scoreline against a hard-drilled Saracens outfit, Hendy would have been proud of his personal performance, despite the somber journey back up the country from North London.
The red-haired firecracker was strong in the air, despite the swirling winds of the StoneX stadium doing all it can to send the ball of-course. The greasy artificial surface made the ball skid this way and that, yet Hendy swept up well in the back-field, and backed his ability to return fire with the ball in hand. The fullback carved his way through a fatiguing Saracens defensive line, as he tore up the astroturf towards the latter stages of the match. Steve Borthwick could certainly call upon Hendy to bolster the fullback ranks, should either George Furbank or Freddie Steward be ruled out of action.
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