Sam Underhill set to replace Tom Curry in England backrow
Sam Underhill is poised to fill the void in England’s back row created by Tom Curry’s tour-ending concussion for Saturday’s do-or-die second Test against Australia in Brisbane.
Underhill was overlooked altogether for the 30-28 defeat at Optus Stadium but is winning the race to be selected at openside flanker ahead of Lewis Ludlam and Jack Willis.
The Bath back row was a star of the 2019 World Cup but since Japan he has been limited to winning only 13 caps due to concussion, Covid, illness and injury, making just one appearance in the recent Six Nations.
Now he is poised to lead the defensive stand at Suncorp Stadium as England took to take the series to a decider, with Ludlam expected to continue on the bench.
“Sam’s work rate on and off the ball are excellent. He’s a really good defender, particularly with his chop tackles,” said Australian defence coach Anthony Seibold, who joined Eddie Jones’ coaching team in the autumn.
“He’s played at a high level. I’m thinking of New Zealand at Twickenham in 2018 and, watching his performances at the World Cup from afar, he was a standout for me.”
Teenage sensation Henry Arundell is also in serious contention to replace Joe Cokanasiga on the left wing following his stunning seven-minute try-scoring cameo in the first Test.
It was hoped that Jonny May would be available for the Suncorp Stadium clash but he has yet to train fully as he continues his recovery from Covid and he now faces a battle to be fit for the climax to the series in Sydney.
Cokanasiga was a peripheral figure in Perth, frustrating through his failure to go hunting for the ball, but concerns over Arundell’s defence at this stage of his career could spare him the axe.
Six years ago England produced a remarkable act of defiance in the second Test in Melbourne to take an unassailable lead in a series they went on to win 3-0 and it is felt that a similar effort will be needed to subdue the Wallabies on Saturday.
A patchy defence has been a deficiency of recent times but Seibold insists they have the personnel to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat.
“You look at our leaders like Courtney Lawes, Owen Farrell and Ellis Genge – you want to go to war with those guys. You do,” Seibold said.
“Working with those three guys in particular, amongst others, you know if you had to go to war with those three guys you know they’re going to stand up.
“I know Owen spoke about how this is an opportunity for us. I do think we’ve got some guys in our group who are up for this and that’s the exciting thing.”
Veteran prop Mako Vunipola has called on England to empty the tanks at a venue where Australia have won their last 10 Tests.
“It’s time for us to show what we’re about as a team. We’ve got nowhere to hide,” Vunipola said.
“We’ve got our backs against the wall and now we’ve got to go out there and put our best foot forward.
“If we do that, we can come off the field with our heads held high. I don’t think we did that enough in the first Test and the result showed that.”
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