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Mick Cleary: Five reasons for Steve Borthwick to be cheerful
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'Very hard to ignore him': Baxter piles selection pressure on Borthwick
By Neil Fissler
Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter has challenged Greg Fisilau to turn up the heat on England coaches and make it hard for them to ignore him ahead of the Six Nations, which kicks off against Wales next month.
Plymouth-born No.8 Fisilau was invited to link up with the England squad for a one-day camp at Pennyhill Park on Monday after turning in a series of eye-catching performances for the Chiefs this season.
The back of the scrum is a place that is seen as being up for grabs, as nobody has nailed it down, with flankers Ben Earl starting three times in the autumn and Chandler Cunningham-South once.
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Fisilau, who England has capped at U20 and A levels, trained with the national team ahead of the 2024 tour to New Zealand, and he is now on the verge of sealing a place in Steve Borthwick’s Six Nations squad.
Baxter believes that two impressive performances against Stade Francais in Paris this weekend and then against Cardiff will make him very hard to ignore when Borthwick names his squad at Twickenham on January 23rd.
“He has been playing very well and very consistently for us. He was one of our most consistent players last season in a tough season. And this season, he is doing exactly the same, being very consistent.
“He is doing some very good things. He was very good against Leicester Tigers, wasn’t he? He was very good against Bath and nearly broke through a couple of times, really giving us momentum, particularly in the second half.
“Greg is just really consistent in his work and the numbers he posts. And he is a young guy who is only going to get better, so I think it was the right time to bring him in and show him some recognition of how well he is playing.
“Now he has to keep going and make sure everybody feels that if he has a couple of dominant games in these next three weeks, it will be very hard to ignore him,” said Baxter.
Baxter said that Fisilau, Henry Slade, and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso were all back at Sandy Park on Tuesday morning and admitted that camps are far less disruptive under Borthwick.
“Everything has changed around these alignment camps, a bit in the last couple of years. And to be fair to Steve (Borthwick), he has organised things where they are less disruptive now than they used to be.
“I actually think they are okay. They used to be two-day camps with a bit of training. They were almost too short for England to make any use of and a bit too long that they interfered with clubs.
“Whereas now these individual days fitted in at the start of weeks, particularly around Europe, are far less disruptive, so I’m far happier with the situation as it is at the moment,” he added.
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