Gloucester fly-half Freddie Burns is closer to making his return from a knee injury that has so far ruled him out of the Six Nations.
Burns suffered the injury playing against Mont-de-Marsan, denying him the opportunity to add to his sole England cap won on debut in the win over New Zealand last November.
Having worked his way back to full fitness, Burns is eager to get back playing for Gloucester this Friday against Bath.
"It was obviously a big blow to get injured before the Six Nations," said Burns.
"I've missed most of the tournament, obviously I hope to be fit for the last two games, but I only have one game realistically to prove match fitness and form.
"As soon as I got injured, it was obviously a disappointment for the first couple of days. But you've just got to put it to one side and, not write off the Six Nations, because you want to get back and help the boys.
"But, firstly, it's about getting fit and, secondly, it's all about performing for Gloucester on Friday if I'm selected. That's my focus at the minute, helping us to get that victory on Friday night, any way I can. It's something I've tried to do all year, just focus on my game for Gloucester. That's what gets you noticed by the England coaching team.
"So, it's back to square one for me, doing what I do for Gloucester and, if it results in a call up, then that's great. In the meantime, I'll just keep working hard for the club."
Comments
writtleman says...
We are building up a great squad - not just 15 players. Reserves in every position even including front row, though we have missed Corbs (more than Freddie I think Centre12) and no-one is really close to Dan Cole yet. But elsewhere we can fit a reserve in without noticing it. Croft to return. Morgan fit again, 3 good centres - we can cope with injuries as we run up to 2015. Much as I love the Lions I think England could have done with a tour of their own this summer to embed a few more in the squad and continue the building process. Average age 24 and just over 200 caps between them all! Oh Happy Days!
I've almost forgotten the deep dark days of 2004-2011
Finally Freddie should be on the bench against Italy - to do anything else would be dead against everything that SL stands for and would hardly be fair to Flood. But bring him on at 60mins
Posted 08:19 01st March 2013
heart_of_oak says...
Wasey, I'd replace your wingers with the 2 from Wasps, Wade and the other bloke I'm not allowed to name. But otherwise, you're spot on. And guess what ? It'd mean no-one from Sarries so it'll never happen.
Having said that, I would use Barritt for games where we needed very good defence in the backs, probably at the expense of 12trees.
Posted 09:34 28th February 2013
Centre12 says...
His injury was Englands biggest blow before the 6N's in my opinion, I would really love to see him have a full 80 mins against Italy but it might be throwing him in at the deep end in terms of match fitness, if he were to do well over Bath this weekend I would probably give him the benefit of the doubt and play him for 60 mins against Italy with Flood on the bench, thats if Farrell is still injured.
Posted 04:23 28th February 2013
wasey says...
Finally a good attacking fly half, he may not have the attacking skills of Cipriani or the defensive capabilities and hard hitting of Farrell but his partnership with 36 will get England's back line firing. My backs would be:
10 Burns
11 Yards
12 twelvetrees
13 tuilagi
14 Ashton (he might start scoring now)
15 Brown
Posted 18:44 27th February 2013
melkdave says...
Very good news indeed,hopefully he will be fit and refreshed for Englands tour of Argentina in the summer.Expecting him to really shine there on the had fast grounds
Posted 17:13 27th February 2013