The stunning Jamie George comment that rocked Steve Borthwick as England determined to ‘keep pushing’ after series win
England hooker Jamie George has been called up to the British & Irish Lions squad.
When England lost to what was effectively a France third team days before leaving for Argentina, they were given no chance against the Pumas.
Steve Borthwick’s side led by 12 points with five minutes to play and contrived a way to blow it. It did not augur well for the two-Test series against a South American nation ranked above England in the world order.
How peculiar that result looks today after Borthwick‘s men completed a 2-0 clean sweep in San Juan, courtesy of super sub Jack van Poortvliet’s last-gasp try winner.
Across the two games England had three players sent to the sin-bin, awarded four new caps and lost co-captain Jamie George for Saturday’s second Test five hours before kick-off after the hooker was called up by the British & Irish Lions.
2-0 series triumph
Yet they defended like Trojans in La Plata, before hitting the Pumas with a four-try second half salvo, and here in San Juan found a way to win on a day which seemed destined to end in frustration.
Unsurprisingly, Borthwick’s men head to the airport, for a flight to Washington DC and the final leg of their tour, in pretty chipper mood. Van Poortvliet says the best is yet to come.
“We want to keep getting better, we want to keep improving,” said the Leicester scrum-half. “Steve drives standards unbelievably every day, every week. And we’re gonna keep pushing to keep improving.
“We think we’ve got so much further to go. We’re excited where we are right now, but we can take it so much further and we know that as a group.”
The scrum-half added: “We can’t get ahead of ourselves, we won’t get ahead of ourselves. But we’ll keep pushing, boys will keep working for more opportunities. Yeah, it’s an exciting place to be.”
George will be the 15th Englishman to join the Lions when he arrives in Brisbane on Tuesday at the end of a 10,000-mile journey via Buenos Aires and Dubai.
Few countries could lose that quantity of top-end talent and still prevail, as England have, in South America.
“I just think it shows the talent and depth that there is in this country,” Van Poortvliet continued. “You’ve seen the quality of the [England] Under-20s teams the last few years. Those boys are now all coming through.
“Tours like these are brilliant for people to take their opportunity. It’s amazing to see the boys away with Lions doing so well, but they go away and it’s your opportunity to try and put your hand up.
“So many people have done that. It only increases competition for when everyone’s back in the autumn. It shows what a good place English rugby is in at the minute.”
The feel good factor around this tour is such that when called up by Lions head coach Andy Farrell on Saturday morning, George asked if he could first play for England.
“Jamie’s words were ‘I want to play tonight, I really want to play. I want to finish this part of the trip’,” Borthwick testified. “I had incredible respect for Jamie before, I now have even more.”
George takes up the story. “I woke to a few messages asking if I’d seen that Luke had picked up a knock. I hadn’t seen the Lions game and at that stage I didn’t really think too much of it because we had a huge game to play.
“Then I spoke to both Steve and Andy. The initial conversation was about whether I could play. They said I had to withdraw from the game and be on the next flight out of here.
Desperate to play
“I was desperate to play because we have been on a hell of a journey together over the last little while. Coming over as a young team with not a lot of experience, I’ve loved it, I’ve loved every second of it.”
For all that, George cannot wait to arrive down under. “I can’t stress enough how much playing for the Lions means to me,” he said. “I’d swim there if I had to because that is how special it is.
“Having done two tours already, I know what it’s like, I know how good it is. Playing in 2017 was the greatest privilege of my rugby playing career, or right up there. I want to go out there and contribute as much as I possibly can.”
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