Kruis on verge of final Twickenham appearance
George Kruis could be poised to make his final appearance at Twickenham as Jamie George reflects on the “competition winner” who has extracted every ounce from his career.
Kruis is weighing up a lucrative offer to play in Japan’s Top League, knowing that if he departed overseas he would no longer be considered for England selection under Rugby Football Union rules.
If, as expected, he leaves Saracens at the end of the season then the Guinness Six Nations showdown with Wales on Saturday week might become his last outing at Twickenham.
George recalls the arrival of his long-term club and Lions team-mate at Allianz Park over a decade ago.
“I’ve known George for over 10 years. He’s incredibly impressive,” the England hooker said.
“He’s squeezed the most out of his career as he possibly could because of the amount of work he’s put in.
“I remember him joining Saracens as an 18-year-old – he’d have to drive from Dorking every morning, getting up at 5am, not get paid any money to do it.
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WATCH: Last year Kruis spoke to RugbyPass from Pennyhill ahead of his side’s showdown against Wales this weekend.
“I think he was 90kilos at the time. He was awful, nothing short of that. He was a bad rugby player! Everyone was like: ‘We’re just handing trials out? He’s a competition winner?’.
“Then he gets in the gym and puts on 29kg and you see the amount of hard work he puts into everything he does.
“Everyone looks at his line-out – at that he’s a nause, a guru, whatever you want to call it because he’s brilliant – but he works incredibly hard on his all-round game as well.
DONE DEAL!
A huge signing, both literally and figuratively for Leicester Tigers. https://t.co/gy3RG36QvY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 28, 2020
“He is one of the hardest working players you will find. He is always very tough on himself, but in terms of standard-setting, you don’t need to look much further than him.”
Kruis, who misfired with a cheeky grubber kick in the 24-12 rout of Ireland, admits the end of the Six Nations could also signal the end of his 44-cap England career.
“It’s a tough decision, but extremely exciting on all fronts,” the second row said.
England held a three-day training camp at the school this week. https://t.co/CfEY3uO9Vb
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 28, 2020
“I can probably make too much of overthinking situations and sometimes it’s a good opportunity, whatever I decide to do. If I stay, it’s an unbelievable opportunity, if I go, it is also a great opportunity.
“This is something I need to sit down and have a proper think about once we have finished up the Six Nations.
“It’s always emotional playing for England. It’s clearly an absolute privilege, something myself, my family and my friends really enjoy.
“It’s something we are very privileged to do. You could get injured at any point and then not play. It is very much a game at a time on that front.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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 comments