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England prospect wants foot race with Prem's fastest players
Ollie Hassell-Collins, the London Irish wing, wants to race off against the Premiership’s fastest wings to determine who is English rugby’s speed king.
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Hassell-Collins will get the chance to measure himself against two of the fastest Premiership wings when Newcastle arrive at the Gtech Community Stadium in Brentford boasting the turbo-charged twins Adam Rawan (England) and Mateo Carreras (Argentina) who have both delivered superb solo tries this season.
Hassell-Collins added another try to his showreel with a brilliant long-range score against reigning champions Leicester last weekend but it couldn’t save the club from yet another narrow 33-31 defeat that sees them bottom of the league.
With Eddie Jones, the underfire England head coach, being urged to look again at Radwan, Hassell-Collins and Harlequins Cadan Murley, the idea of a run-off between the leading wings would settle a few arguments. Hassell- Collins would add Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit, of Gloucester, to the race as well although Henry Arundell, the Irish full back is currently out of contention as he is in a boot for six weeks after foot surgery.
Hassell-Collins said: “We need to have a race with myself Radwan, Henry Arundell, Ben Loader, Murley and Louis Rees-Zammit- something needs to get arranged! There have been a lot of good wingers for a long time and I am looking at Radwan and Murley and thinking I need to push my game on and do better and hopefully they are seeing the same things. You look at what wingers are doing to get into the squads.
Anthony Watson comes from the far side of the moon but even he can't reel in 6'4 and 100kg of Ollie Hassell-Collins on the hoof ?#LEIvLIR | #gallagherprem pic.twitter.com/VeUedJJJ7X
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 27, 2022
“Since Harlequins won the Premiership the game has become more open and rule changes have probably helped with more space on the edges. It is just fun to get the ball and run fast and I really enjoy doing that. When you see Carreras scoring tries like he has you cannot help but think “ Wow” and he has scored some unbelievable ones and Radwan scored a nice one against Gloucester and you just have to sit back and clap them.”
Hassell-Collins has been involved in England squads under Eddie Jones and has been given regular feedback from the international set up about areas of his game that need improvement to win him a starting spot. He explained: “I have been working on those moments ( to break open a game) for some time and its nice to see the outcome and (against Leicester) I just put my foot on the gas and managed to get over the try line.
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“I have had some straightforward feedback (from England) of what I need to do which is two or three things to focus on. They have kept in contact which is nice but I am fully focused on Irish and I want to get us winning and if England happens then great. I learnt so much in camps with England and the wingers in there have been on the international stage for a long time and so it is pretty cool to learn from them. I was in the England camp with Radwan and we know each quite well and he is rapid and someone I am going to have to contain.
“Radwan and Carreras are smaller and have a low centre of gravity and you don’t want to give them too much space or they will be gone. My point of difference is my size and I am trying to come off my wing and get those touches in the middle of the pitch. “
Newcastle boss Dave Walder is also relishing the battle between his wings and the back line speed Irish are able to boast including Hassell-Collins and Loader and said: “I am looking forward to it and hopefully we get the better of the battle. They try and give their wings the ball in space and are real threats and while we use our wingers slightly differently, they are no less effective. It will be exciting and I hope our two get the better of their two.”
With Arundell out, Hassell-Collins has become even more important to an Exiles team that has amassed more losing bonus points than any other Premiership team yet lies at the bottom of the table. This has created understandable frustration at the club and with in-form Newcastle – with two recent wins over Gloucester and Exeter – arriving there is danger the Irish could be upset again.
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He believes the form Irish showed at Leicester proves they are delivering good rugby but admits finding consistency is vital to start turning close defeats into much-needed wins. “The performance at Leicester was encouraging but we gave them too much in the first half: “he added.” We took two points back with us and now we want a victory before we go into the European games.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to comments