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What England A selection could do for 'powerful athlete' Tarek Haffar
Sam Vesty is hoping that the upcoming England A game versus Portugal will be an invaluable experience for young Northampton prop Tarek Haffar.
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Three Saints players – front-rower Haffar, Test-capped back-rower Tom Pearson and winger Ollie Sleightholme – were named last Thursday in the 27-strong international squad for the February 25 fixture at Leicester.
The match will be England’s first outing at A team level since 2016 when they toured South Africa as the Saxons.
Northampton head coach Vesty will be George Skivington’s attack coach and he is especially interested in what the 22-year-old loosehead can do at representative level.
It was last summer when the Saints snapped up the 6ft, 115kg prop from the collapsed London Irish.
Despite only making a single start so far in his half-dozen club appearances this season, his recently signed contract extension has been followed by his inclusion in the England A squad as one of two looseheads for next weekend’s game.
“This should open Tarek’s eyes certainly,” reckoned Vesty about the former England U20s front-rower who made two starts in 10 London Irish appearances during his breakthrough 2022/23 season.
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“He is a really powerful athlete, he is diligent with what he does and I’m hoping it is a really great experience for him to go and see how the world is different out there and how other teams do things differently.
“To be fair, Tarek has been at London Irish as well so he has a different mindset but it’s really important that you go and see different attack coaches, different defence coaches, different players, how they react to different things – and it’s such a good learning environment because of that.
“Tarek will grow from this experience and hopefully he will get on and show his game which is absolute power in the collisions. Hopefully, he gets a chance to show that but he will learn a lot more off the pitch as well.”
The England A squad of 27 will assemble on Tuesday at Loughborough University.
Its depth will be added to that evening as the plan is for England first-team boss Steve Borthwick to allow some players who don’t make his match day 23 for the Guinness Six Nations game versus Scotland to drop down into Skivington’s squad.
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England A squad (vs Portugal):
Loosehead (2): Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Tarek Haffar (Northampton);
Hooker (3): Jamie Blamire (Newcastle), Sam Riley (Harlequins), Seb Blake (Gloucester);
Tighthead (2): Josh Iosefa Scott (Exeter), James Harper (Sale);
Lock (4): Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Arthur Clark (Gloucester), Ben Bamber (Sale), Rusiate Tuima (Exeter);
Back row (5): Tom Pearson (Northampton), Guy Pepper (Newcastle), Alfie Barbeary (Bath), Greg Fisilau (Exeter Chiefs), Jack Clement (Gloucester);
Scrum-half (2): Caolan Englefield (Gloucester), Harry Randall (Bristol);
Out-half (2): Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester), Jamie Shillcock (Leicester);
Centre (2): Oliver Hartley (Saracens), Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Sale);
Wing (3): Oliver Sleightholme (Northampton), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Ollie Hassell-Collins (Leicester);
Full-back (2): Josh Hodge (Exeter), Sam Harris (Bath).
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig 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
4 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 comments