England hopeful outlines Test ambitions as ‘chats’ with coaching staff revealed
George Hendy (pictured) has yet to win his firsrt senior Test cap for England
Northampton Saints back George Hendy is hoping he can earn a spot in England’s squad this summer, when Steve Borthwick’s side take on the Springboks, Fiji and Argentina in the Nations Championship.
The versatile back-three player has been involved in England A squads in recent years, but has yet to win his first senior cap for the national side.
George Hendy outlines England hopes as chats revealed
While the door might not have opened for him to make the senior side as of yet, he remains hopeful of getting a call from Borthwick sooner rather than later.
“Now that I’m back fit, the plan is to go all the way to the end of the season and put my best foot forward to push on and target this summer (with England),” he said.
“Whatever England decide to do over the summer with their three Tests, but that’s what I want. To do that, I know I’m going to have to put consistent, quality games together.”
His hopes of a call-up are certainly warranted. Hendy was a very notable omission from both England’s Autumn Nations Series and particularly Six Nations squads earlier this season following a run of eight tries in 14 games between the start of the season and mid-January.
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Hendy did pick up a serious knee injury during the PREM Rugby Cup block, but has hit the ground running since returning to the Saints’ match-day squad with one try in his past four outings.
That form has again attracted the attention of the England staff over potential selection this summer, with Hendy revealing he’s held chats with attack coach Lee Blackett.
“I’ve had a few chats with Lee,” he said. “The areas of my game he thinks I need to improve at are the same ones I already knew, and the same ones the Saints coaches have analysed as well.
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“I know exactly what I need to do to get there, but now it’s just about going out and doing it.”
‘I’m pretty flexible’
Hendy faces stern competition for a spot in the England side, but one big tick in his box is his ability to cover both full-back and wing. Across his 18 starts this season for both Northampton and England A, 12 have come at full-back and six have come either at 11 or 14, while also offering a utility role off the bench.
“I actually don’t really mind (where he plays),” said the Saint. “If you look back at the first few rounds of Europe, I would have wing all day when you’re in good form, scoring, beating people and confidence is high. But then I’ve also had games at full-back where I’ve been on the ball and things are going right.
“I’ve always said whichever number gets me on the pitch, I’m happy to be in. I loved being on the wing last week and full-back the week before. I’m pretty flexible.
“At full-back, you probably get a few more natural involvements compared to wing where you have to go hunting to get some touches of the ball. The hard bit for me is finding that flip between them, but it’s how hungry I can be and take people on.”
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Interestingly, though, Northampton use Hendy alongside the likes of George Furbank and Tommy Freeman in a more fluid back-three unit, with them often interchanging positions across the game depending on the situation, and that again could feed well into England’s system given they are both likely to be involved again this summer in some capacity.
“That comes from how close we are as a group and not just something we’re coached,” Hendy said on their attacking system. “It gets to a point where if you see certain personnel around you, no matter how good the defence is, you ask for the ball and make stuff happen.
“There are some situations where you’re better off staying where you are and holding other defenders. Somebody like Freemo (Tommy Freeman) will draw in two defenders if he’s out wide, which will open up holes and then players like Fin (Smith), Rory Hutchinson and Fraser Dingwall are really good at finding those mismatches. But then sometimes we want Freemo to just get on the ball.
“It’s something that I was a bit slow to pick up last season, but I’ve got a lot better at it this year.”