George Kruis: 'I had a conversation with Warren before I left. I believe he's keeping an open mind'
George Kruis may have ruled himself out of England contention by moving to Japan but he is aiming to convince Warren Gatland to include him in the British and Irish Lions selection debate for the series with South Africa this summer.
Kruis, who was in try scoring form for Panasonic Wild Knights last weekend, spoke to Gatland before taking up his Japanese contract that brought an end to his career at Saracens and made the 45-cap cap lock ineligible for England. However, the Lions head coach made it clear the 6ft 6ins forward can still be considered for selection for the test series with the World Cup holders which looks likely to take place in the UK.
Having toured with the 2017 Lions in New Zealand and appeared in one test, Kruis’s line out skills are well known to Gatland and the 31-year-old has helped the Wild Knights move to the top of the White Conference of the Top League with three wins.
The league has attracted a host of high profile players including All Blacks Brodie Retalick, Beauden Barrett and Kieran Reid along with Wallaby captain Michael Hooper and Springbok centre Jesse Kriel who was in the Canon Heat team beaten by Kruis’s side 47-0 last weekend in Oita where England played during the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Kruis, who takes on NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes this weekend, told RugbyPass: “I had a conversation with Warren before I left and I have to play as best as I can and see if there is anything there. I know I have distanced myself by going half way around the world and if there was an opportunity (to play for the Lions) I would jump at it. I would be pumped to do it and I believe Warren will be keeping an open mind.”
Kruis has been watching the Six Nations matches on delay and will catch up with England v France once his Wild Knights game is over and is confident former second row colleague Maro Itoje will not be affected by having been singled out for conceding penalties against Wales.“ It’s different (watching in Japan) and of course, you would like to be involved and I knew I was giving up that opportunity with England and sometimes it is tough watching. You just want to guys to do well and win and I get the games sent to me.
“Maro is mentally very strong and good players and coaches find ways through it. In games there are things you can control and others that are taken out of your hands and when you compound it with penalties it does make it hard to win games against teams like Wales. They will be disappointed where they are in the table but there are still positives to be taken. Nothing is as good or as bad as it seems and that rings true with how England are playing and the perception in the media.
“I haven’t seen any highlights of the Saracens loss to Cornish Pirates and the lads will be hurting and the character of the players means they will be giving everything in this next game. I avoid reading too much media at the moment and it is a choice I have made over the last couple of years.”
Kruis is due to meet up with Alex Goode, his former team mate, who is also based in the Tokyo area playing for the NEC Green Rockets and the teams meet in three weeks’ time. While Kruis’s team are unbeaten, Goode is still waiting for a victory after three defeats in a league that has defied the pandemic to deliver plenty of points for fans.
He added: “We test weekly for Covid-19 and can train and play without much disruption which is great. The rugby is less set piece without too much kicking game structure and more emphasis on attacking rugby. Defences aren’t poor but there is more concentration on attack and the top teams have some really good players. There are basically three groups of players; foreign internationals, Japanese internationals and amateurs who train full time but on days off they will work for the company.
“Everyone is full time with the amateurs having a chance to work for Panasonic for a long time post-rugby and while it is a different system there are a lot of benefits to it as well. It is very progressive and should be looked at elsewhere.“
You can't make this stuff up, Brodie Retallick is owning the Top League this year. ? https://t.co/Cz9MdC1nUk
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 8, 2021
Besides making an impact on Japanese rugby, Kruis is also building on his successful business partnership with former Saracens team mate Dominic Day which launched in 2018 specialising in CBD oil – a chemical substance found in cannabis that has medical benefits . Their foray into oil has just expanded in vitamins and nutrition and their products will be available at a major UK pharmacy chain shortly. This is part of his post-rugby planning.
Kruis explained: “To perform your best you need nutrition that actually works. Like most things, you get back what you put in and when we dug deeper, we were disappointed with what we found in the nutrition we were taking with products full of filler and chalk, rather than solid scientific evidence. We decided to make a range of nutrition products, Fourfive Nutrition, designed to our professional standard, without artificial fillers and at the highest bioavailability specification.
“We’ve created safe, Informed Sport tested, high-end nutrition that everyone can trust, from sports professionals to enthusiasts and everyone in-between.”
Kruis and Day’s latest product launch can be seen at www.fourfivenutrition.co.uk
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
2 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments