It has been a volatile summer for English hookers. Dylan Hartley’s on-field misdemeanours in the Premiership semi-final have left Stuart Lancaster and Graham Rowntree with an unwelcome dilemma, shorn of their first choice in what is potentially the most specialised position on the field, in technical terms.
One man looking to make the most of the latest moment of Hartley madness is Saracens’ Jamie George, the young hooker who was amongst this season’s standout Premiership performers. He has had to wait his turn, but at the age of 24 he finally got his chance to pull on the England jersey at Monday’s launch of the new World Cup shirt.
It has only heightened his desire to keep hold of it long enough to pull it on in a competitive match this autumn.
“It’s a bit more real now – it’s really hit me that this is the first time I’ve ever worn it,” says George, who is one of six uncapped players to have just experienced their first two weeks of an England training environment.
“The last couple of weeks have been really good – I’ve learnt so much. Very quickly you learn that you need to work at a certain intensity. The boys have been very welcoming which has made it really easy to settle in.
“We’ve had opportunities to show what we can do with ball in hand and in our defensive systems. I think there is going to be enough time [to adapt to international rugby and make the final squad], I’ve just got to get my head down and show everything that I can do.”
After the Dylan Hartley debacle, hooker could well be viewed as a bit of a problem position for England. Tom Youngs has had a stellar season for the Tigers and always done the business in his cameos from the bench for the national side, but behind him the cupboard is relatively bare; Rob Webber has had a torrid year, losing his place in the Bath side to Ross Batty, while George and Luke Cowan-Dickie are talented but immensely raw in equal measure.
George, speaking from what he has seen in camp so far, predictably disagrees.
“The standard of hookers we have in camp is really high – you’ve only got to look at how well Luke Cowan-Dickie’s done this season,” he says magnanimously. “He’s a hugely talented guy and has impressed me a lot. Rob Webber has plenty of international experience, and Tom Youngs has impressed me just with the way he goes about his business.”
The Saracens hooker was the man to enter the squad at Hartley’s expense, but you could argue that Webber has benefited equally. Before the Northampton man’s expulsion, Webber may well have missed out on the third hooker spot (assuming Youngs was a given) to Cowan-Dickie, who could have been included to cut his teeth in the lesser games.
But now, Webber’s experience looks invaluable, given that it would be a monumental risk to enter the tournament with two uncapped hookers. It would seem, then, that it is a straight shoot-out between George and Cowan-Dickie for that final place. George speaks highly of his closest rival.
“I didn’t know him before the camp because we were in different [England] age groups, but he’s a really nice guy and we get on really well and try to help each other out. We’re both aware of the situation that we’re in, and we’re both just trying to put our best foot forward.”
When the initial squad was announced, Cowan-Dickie was the surprise inclusion ahead of George, who had more experience at Premiership level and had probably shaded his counterpart in terms of form over the course of the season. His stunning try from 40 metres out in the Premiership final still burned strong in recent memory. The Saracens man admits his exclusion was tough to take at first.
“I thought from the season I’d had it would have been a great way to round it off, but it wasn’t to be. Graham Rowntree gave me a ring and just said I’d had a really great season and it was a really close call, but I just wasn’t quite there.”
But then came the result of Hartley’s disciplinary hearing, and an olive branch was extended to George. It was no less than he deserved.
“Thankfully it’s turned around full circle and I’m here and it’s a great end to what was a great season. After everything happened Mark McCall rang me and said I was actually going to be involved in the camp. It was probably the best phone call I’d ever had.”
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Jamie George was appearing alongside his England teammates at the launch of the innovative England Rugby World Cup shirt #CommittedtotheRose. Visit Canterbury.com
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So many jokes about curb crawling, so little time.
Curb crawling? I didn’t know that David Pleat was involved with England rugger.
Why a crisis? Only 1 hooker down,There are others in line. Youngs, e.g., hardly inexp, Besides, ‘youth’ IS Lancaster’s policy.
Maybe if SL had rotated this posi with Webber, Gerorge & C-D, there’d be less of a (perceived?) ‘crisis’.