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.
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.
“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.
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
Well done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
3 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
3 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
192 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
192 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
192 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
2 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
2 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
3 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
192 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
192 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
156 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
192 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
192 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
192 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
192 Go to comments