Jack van Poortvliet calls himself a “student of the game” and England’s 22-year-old scrum-half has no bother recalling a few standout moments involving two of his colleagues.
The first is Ben Youngs’s 66th-minute attempt towards Argentina that noticed England nudge forward in a 2011 World Cup group recreation. The second is Danny Care’s solo rating towards France in 2016 that helped safe a Six Nations grand slam win in Paris.
The element and texture supplied would counsel Van Poortvliet was there, both on the sector or pitch-side for these two well-known contributions from the nation’s most-capped scrum-halves. Of course, he wasn’t. He was 10 years previous in 2011 and 14 in 2016. Now, six weeks out from a World Cup, he’s competing with two England legends for that No 9 jersey.
“You watch them as you grow up and think of them now in these situations,” Van Poortvliet says from the team’s immaculate base in Pennyhill. “Whoever starts or benches, [it’s about] how you can have the best impact on the team to help them get the win over 80 minutes. There are things I can learn from both of them.”
Don’t let the sports-speak idiot you. Desire burns inside and although he calls himself a “sponge”, keen to soak up as a lot info as he can from the veterans alongside him, he’s as determined as them to win Steve Borthwick’s favour.
“There isn’t any impostor syndrome,” he says with out hesitation. “For us nines, we have obviously got a big role commanding what we want from the team, in terms of the forward pack and bits, and as soon as we step on the grass the team needs a voice and for us to push them out and give them the direction they need.
“I have always been told, as soon as I came into professional rugby, that you can’t shy away from anything as a scrum-half and you can’t be afraid of putting your voice out because the team needs your voice and direction. It is something I have worked on to have the confidence to do it.
“But as soon as I came into this environment, I knew I couldn’t be quiet. It is something that comes naturally to me, to be demanding on the field. There are ways to learn to be better at it and do it in the right way, but I feel if I am not doing it the team will suffer.”
Like Youngs, Van Poortvliet was born in Norfolk and developed his recreation at Leicester as an academy graduate. “He’s from the same area, why can’t I do that?” he says, recreating an inside dialogue as he practises his passing.
Having Youngs round has helped him transition into the England set-up. So produce other acquainted figures, together with Richard Wigglesworth, capped 33 instances as an England scrum-half himself, and the scrum coach Tom Harrison, who each adopted Borthwick from Leicester.
“It has been a bit weird,” Van Poortvliet provides. “We were trying to work out what would be weirder, coming in here with all the Leicester coaches in England kit or going back to Leicester and having a completely new coaching set-up and staff there.
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“It was a bit strange to start with but once you get past them in the England kit it is like it was before. There are slight changes and a different playing environment but it has been really cool.”
Though Van Poortvliet’s consideration has been centred on his personal recreation, he has lifted his head excessive sufficient to watch what different prime stage No 9s are as much as. He was engrossed by New Zealand’s early blitz of South Africa within the Rugby Championship earlier this month that had the All Blacks 17-0 up after simply 17 minutes. Van Poortvliet famous how Aaron Smith cycled by way of a spread of kicking choices and linked with Beauden Barrett or Richie Mo’unga at first receiver.
Along with Ireland, France and South Africa, New Zealand are among the many clear favourites to be topped champions in France. All 4 are additionally on the identical aspect of the draw which suggests solely considered one of them can attain the ultimate. England have been supplied a far gentler potential passage to the showpiece recreation however are nonetheless thought-about an outdoor wager to double their World Cup tally.
“I don’t think we are talking about that at all,” Van Poortvliet says when requested if the group is concerned by the pessimism about their prospects in France. He trots out quotable traces about course of and taking it one recreation at a time. Don’t be fooled: he will probably be determined to make a splash on the match. First, although, Van Poortvliet has to edge previous two of his heroes.
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