Twelvetrees' ambition for England

Editor

Centre Billy Twelvetrees firmly believes that England have the talent and personnel to score plenty of tries in the Six Nations.

Centre Billy Twelvetrees firmly believes that England have the talent and personnel to score plenty of tries in the Six Nations.

England were scrutinised in last year's Six Nations for only scoring one try in their final four matches, highlighting the deficiencies of their attack.

Now with Twelvetrees secure in the number 12 shirt, the expectation is that the Gloucester back will reciprocate his creativity at club level in the Test arena over the next few weeks to get England's attack firing.

“You get scrutinised in whatever position you play. We've got huge ambition,” said Twelvetrees.

“Personally I have massive ambition to play in the centre for England and do as well as I can, creating things so that we can score tries.

“It's up to us at 10-12-13 to create opportunities, to punch holes and to give boys space. We definitely have the personnel to do that.

“Week-in, week-out in the Premiership the boys are scoring tries and creating opportunities, it's just about getting the balance right and doing it in an England shirt.”

Twelvetrees endured a difficult match against Australia last November to put his selection in doubt, at fault defensively for Matt Toomua's try, but rebounded with strong performances against Argentina and New Zealand to make the 12 role his own.

“It was massive to have Stuart's trust. You want the coach to trust you and you want the players' trust around you,” added Twelvetrees.

“That was particularly important for that second game [against Argentina] after having not played not so well in the first one.

“I was fully aware of that and wanted to crack on and put it to bed. I thought I did that. In the last two games I was pleased with what happened.

“The loss to New Zealand was obviously disappointing but I felt we really fronted up and took it to them. It was a huge learning curve.”

Twelvetrees is expected to line up alongside Northampton Saints centre Luther Burrell against France on Saturday.

Burrell has primarily played at 12 himself for Northampton, but Twelvetrees insists the two will be able to click in midfield, with the numbers on the back of their shirts not always defining their roles.

“My role won't change much at all if Luther is there,” stated Twelvetrees.

“Generally you're only together in the first phase and after that you're probably split or all over the place.

“The number on your back doesn't sometimes represent the position you're playing in.”