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England lock George Kruis has just one more game to negotiate before ankle surgery rules him out for two months and believes he can help power Saracens to their most complete performance of a topsy-turvy season against reigning champions Exeter in Saturday’s Aviva Premiership play-off final at Twickenham
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The British and Irish Lions forward, who played in the first test against the All Blacks in the drawn series last summer, is part of a 21 strong list of players not able to tour with England to South Africa next month including Jonathan Joseph, Courtney Lawes, Anthony Watson, Jack Willis and captain Dylan Hartley.
Kruis’s omission from the tour party is with the blessing of England head coach Eddie Jones who like Saracens wants one of the World’s outstanding lineout technicians fully fit for the start of next season which leads into the World Cup in Japan.
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For Kruis the operation is secondary to the need to play his part in making Saracens English rugby’s top team again by beating an Exeter side that knocked them out of the play-off semi-finals last season a week after their successful defence of the European Champions Cup against Clermont in Murrayfield. Having been beaten by eventual champions Leinster in the Cup quarter-finals, Saracens have been able to enjoy a quieter build up and the manner of their 57-33 semi-final win over Wasps last weekend was a warning to Exeter.
While Kruis believes their first half showing against Wasps was the best the team has delivered in a season that saw them suffer seven successive defeats before Christmas, he knows it will take something even better to overcome the reigning champions. He said: “Our performance in the first half against Wasps was as complete as we have been all season. We have had halves when we were good but also periods that have been pretty average compared to the standards we set for ourselves.
“Our challenge will be to deliver our best performance against Exeter who are a very good side. We know what kind of challenge they pose and how they like to play and the onus is on us to put our stamp on the game.
“We have had a lot of ups and down plus a fair few injuries in the season and now we are just excited about finishing a project we started four or five weeks ago. We have been professional moving from one project to the next and this is the last one.
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“My ankle has been something I have had to deal with for a while and at this stage of the season lots of players have something wrong with them and it’s about how you manage it.
“I will be out for eight to ten weeks and will be back within the pre-season period and will be able to get some good training under my belt. You want to be involved in every tour but as my body won’t let me this time then I will take the rest and go from there.”
Saracens club mate Billy Vunipola may join the list of players unable to tour with England if his hamstring becomes a problem again the final against Exeter having forced him off at half time in the win over Wasps at Allianz Park last weekend. Vunipola admitted to BT Sport that the frustration of his knee ligament operation followed by a broken arm suffered against the Ospreys had driven him to tears of frustration. Vunipola said: “I came off as a precaution against Wasps and the biggest challenge this season has been doubting myself and asking what have I been doing wrong. Are the injuries my fault?
“There were points where I cried out of frustration and in my head it was about accepting the situation rather than fighting against it particularly after the Ospreys game. Maybe you push yourself too hard to get back.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Big difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 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 comments