‘Hungry’ Henry Arundell likened to a Springboks legend and the ‘sign’ that shows he ‘wants to improve’
Henry Arundell celebrates his England try last month versus Fiji and, inset, Springboks legend Bryan Habana.
Rejuvenated England winger Henry Arundell has been likened to a legendary Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks player following his weekend Gallagher Premiership exploits with Bath.
The 23-year-old recently ended his two-year international exile after returning to the English league following a switch across the Channel to Racing 92 following the collapse of London Irish.
Arundell featured at Rugby World Cup 2023 in France, making two appearances and scoring five tries in his start on the wing against Chile in Lille. But he then became ineligible for Test squad selection until his return to the Premiership this summer.
Four tries in five Prem starts for Bath resulted in an England recall, and he went on to score off the bench in his comeback appearance versus Fiji.
“By far the quickest…”
Now back at his club, Arundell returned to top-flight action against Saracens on Sunday, and his two-try contribution featured an 80-metre first-half sprint after he intercepted a pass to race clear and then a much shorter 76th-minute run-in for the winning score in a match that Bath won 36-29.
Speaking on the touchlines in London following the victory, Bath boss Johann van Graan was thrilled by the impact of his new signing, labelling him the quickest player in a squad that is looking to win back-to-back titles following last season’s successful finale versus Leicester in June at Twickenham.
“Look, he is by far the quickest in the squad,” enthused the head coach in an interview with TNT Sport, who went on to liken him to Bryan Habana, the 2007 Rugby World Cup winner with South Africa.
“I am going to liken him to one player, Bryan Habana. In 2005, Bryan had just joined us at the Bulls and he scores a try against the Brumbies in Canberra that you can have a look at.
“That was the first time I saw, ‘Wow, this guy has got speed’. And a few years ago, you kind of saw it in Henry. But in the pre-season, when he got the ball, it was like, ‘This is something better than I thought’.
“Like he is one of the quickest players in world rugby and he wants to get better – and he certainly is going to get a lot better.”
Which skills stand out most? “If you look at the main things for a winger, he always finishes; he can finish. He has got out-and-out speed. He has worked on his defence both at England and at Bath. That intercept try was a big moment in the game.
“We spoke about his aerial work, and he has worked so hard on his contact skills. So look, that’s a sign of a player that wants to improve, a player that went away (to France), came back and look, he is hungry to play for us and hungry to play for his country.”
Bath’s win over Saracens restored them to first place in the table after Exeter had temporarily jumped ahead with their round six win at Sale in the first round of matches in the league since hibernating on October 25 to accommodate England’s four-match Autumn Nations Series.
Van Grann was delighted to be back at it. “I said to the lads at half-time, ‘How good is it to be back in the Prem?’ Two very good sides. They [Saracens] threw punches, we came back, they came back, we came back.
“For the last 20, it became a pressure game. But yeah, what a great advert for the Prem. I was watching on Friday night, the Exeter-Sale game, and thought we have got some good teams in this league – and we saw two very good teams this afternoon.”