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'He's boisterous, he's loud': The forgotten England fringe player looking to remind everyone that class is permanent
Nathan Earle is unfortunately used to enduring long gaps without Gallagher Premiership action for Harlequins. He initially went 16 months on the sidelines, his return from the torn ACL suffered in April 2019 getting delayed until August of last year due to the pandemic suspension of the 2019/20 season.
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Then came this winter’s setback, Earle shipping another leg injury when featuring against Racing in the December Heineken Champions Cup action. His rehab thankfully wasn’t as long on this occasion but by the time he put his hand back up for selection, he had slipped way down the pecking order at a souped-up Harlequins who had gone flying up the league following the January exit of Paul Gustard.
Earle was given a run in the forgettable early April Challenge Cup round of 16 battering, a fixture where Harlequins essentially played their reserves and were duly hammered by Ulster. It meant the winger had no form to force his way back into the Premiership reckoning and it required an injury to finally re-open that door, his inclusion at Leicester on May 15 being his first outing in the league since the December 6 game against Gloucester.
The 26-year-old hinted on his return that his class is permanent, pouncing for two tries in the Welford Road loss, but it will be interesting to see whether Earle can now sustain selection with Harlequins entering the business end of their Premiership title challenge.
So much of the current talk surrounding the London club is about the uncapped Marcus Smith and how he must now be an England pick when Eddie Jones unveils his squad for the upcoming summer series. It is a hype that Earle well knows as has also been in that fringe category touted for international honours.
There was initial speculation that the assistant coach would be a good candidate to take over at Harlequins https://t.co/EmvCbv8mZK
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 26, 2021
He toured Argentina uncapped in 2017 while at Saracens and even post his serious ACL injury at Harlequins, he was included in an October 2020 England training squad but the highest level he has reached in his representative career was scoring against the Barbarians and it now seems a long way back to the Jones fold when you are struggling for regular selection at club level. “It was great to see him back,” said assistant Quins coach Nick Evans about the impact Earle made when he finally got a Premiership appearance after a five-month wait during which there has been speculation that he might move to France for next season with Perpignan a possible destination.
“He had that horror run, he had that horrendous knee injury last season. He got himself back fit and looked really dangerous and then picked up another injury. He has been on a wretched run with injury and then guys have been playing well on the wing. We had Aaron Morris, Cadan Murley, Joe Marchant, Tyrone Green playing really well and Louis Lynagh progressed out of nowhere, got given a chance and performed really well.
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“He [Earle] found it tough to get back in and it’s the competition in the squad, that is the environment you want to create. He had to bide his time and then it was great to see the opportunity that he got and he scored two good tries and finished them well. He knows he has got a lot to work on to get up to the speed of the game more but it was great to see him and he is going to have a big part of the run-in.”
Evans added his admiration for Earle’s mental toughness. “For someone like that after the injury he had… he has just had a new baby as well so we joke about the lack of sleep that he is going to have, but he is such an influence on the group. He is one of those guys that is given the role of just getting the guys up. He is boisterous, he’s loud so it is great to have him back on the field and in and around training.”
'As a black player, you get pigeon-holed. You’re either an athlete and you’ll get stuck on the wing or he’s big, let’s stick him in the second row' @Harlequins wing @natenate174 talks about gaining coaches' trust, his ACL, BLM & more, with @heagneyl 👨💻https://t.co/qxaJxTQeXM
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 2, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments