'It was the senior players who were asking me to pick him'

Pat Lam has hailed his Bristol Bears captain Fitz Harding as a “coach’s dream” after he was chosen to make his England A debut against an All Black XV at The Rec on Saturday afternoon.

Harding is among the replacements for the match after impressing the England A coaching team while playing against the Kiwis for the Barbarians last weekend.

His Bears teammate Joe Batley starts the game but has relinquished the captaincy due to his late arrival into camp following the birth of his second child with his partner, Anna, on Monday.

Lam admits he is proud to see what Harding, 26, has achieved in rugby after progressing from Durham University’s fourth team to earn international honours.

“I made the guy captain, and I’m not going to put anybody in as captain. I had to go and talk to Steven Luatua when he was at the World Cup, and had to go and talk to him first.

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“And I said, ‘I think now is the time we pass the captaincy on.’ He said, ‘Who are you thinking of?’ and when I said Fitz Harding, he just said, ‘Yep, perfect.’

“When you look at Fitzy, he is a perfect example of work rate and a set of goals. He never came through the academy system and didn’t get picked up from Wellington College.

“But went to Durham University and to get to there you have had to have done some work. He got his degree and worked his way from the fourth team to arrive here for a trial.

“He started to take everyone out, and it was the senior players who were asking me to pick him because of the way he was training,” said Lam.

And he says the word is spreading about how good Harding, who recently signed a new contract with the Bears, has become, with a branch of his fan club set to open in South Africa, according to Lam.

“I took him to the Barbarians last weekend. We had John Dobson, the Stormers coach, with us, and the South African boys were so impressed by him.

“They started the lineout calls in Afrikaans, and Fitzy was the only non-Afrikaner in there and said he would pick it up. He was really impressive throughout the week, and I was really proud of him.

“I know he will do really well in that England A camp because he is a competitor, a fighter. He ticks the boxes and is a coach’s dream. I know I’ll get a really good report from the England A coaches because it’s what he does.”