England bolters, Steward's potential switch & a 'Carewell'

BBC News

19-05-2025

England will announce a training squad for their tour of Argentina and the United States later this week.With those picked for the British and Irish Lions and players from Bath and Northampton, who are preparing for European finals, to be left out, there are some intriguing options pushing hard.Uncapped full-back Joe Carpenter put in another classy display at the back in the win over Bristol and has been integral to Sale's late-season form.Team-mate Raffi Quirke came off the bench to score a sharp try, after Harry Randall had done similar for Bristol in the first half. Fellow nine Jack van Poortvliet impressed again for Leicester, delivering zippy service and setting up Joe Woodward's try with a well-weighted cross-field bomb.Winger Adam Radwan now has nine tries in nine games since joining Tigers mid-season from Newcastle and will be difficult to ignore.Seb Atkinson purred in Gloucester's midfield, deftly setting up Chris Harris and teenage wing Jack Cotgreave for tries and racing away for one of his own, as they beat Newcastle.Saracens number eight Tom Willis took out some of his frustration at being overlooked for the Lions with a big hit on Henry Pollock in Saracens' loss to Northampton.Exeter back row Ethan Roots, whose last appearance for England was back in March 2024, also put in a timely performance, menacing the breakdown and rattling ribs in the loose against Harlequins. Will Evans, who leads the league's turnover charts with team-mate Jack Kenningham, was also in typically light-fingered form, pilfering ball on the floor.The last time England toured Argentina in a Lions year, a teenage Tom Curry made his debut. Only injury has shifted him from England's back row ever since. Opportunity knocks.
Dunn's dummy raises more questions
Tom Dunn had a landmark to celebrate on Saturday. On the occasion of becoming Bath's all-time leading appearance-maker in Premiership history, he plucked a party piece out of his pocket - selling Leicester full-back Freddie Steward an outrageous dummy before sauntering in for the league leaders' fourth try.Steward has been stepped by far more agile attackers. Jamison Gibson-Park, Grant Williams and Cheslin Kolbe all evaded him with unsettling ease on Test duty this season. Steward revealed on Stick to Rugby earlier this month, external that one-on-one defence was an area England coach Steve Borthwick had told him to improve on.Steward also suggested that he would be open to trying a switch to inside centre, where England have relatively fewer options, he is less exposed to pace and his powerful, rangy running and brave front-on tackling could add impetus.Jamie Roberts and Jordie Barrett both made similar moves out of the back three into midfield in their careers.With England's sometime centre option, back rower Ben Earl, on tour with the British and Irish Lions this summer, could Steward's move to 12 be an experiment for England's tour of Argentina?
Speedy Gonzalez set to test England
Perhaps the most in-form man of all will turn out for the Pumas though.Saracens' flanker Juan Martin Gonzalez has scored eight tries in his last six games as the ground has firmed up and his fast, lung-burning game has come into its own.The 24-year-old had to come off just before half-time at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday with a knock, but his team's loss means he is likely to have more time to recover.Saracens slipping to sixth place with their last-gasp, possibly-forward-pass defeat by Northampton means they need to beat a Bath team, who may well rest their front-line stars, and hope for slip-ups from two of the teams above them in the final round if they are to extend their campaign into the play-offs.Should Sarries fail to make it, this will be the first time in 16 years that they have failed to make the play-offs in a Premiership campaign unaffected by their salary-cap scandal.
Seismic semi-finals shape up
The play-off permutations are fascinating.If Bristol can do a number on a Harlequins team with nothing to play for on a Super Saturday round of simultaneous kick-offs in a fortnight's time, they will likeliest end up in fourth place.Premiership tableThat outcome would set up a West Country ding-dong with leaders Bath at the Rec in the semi-finals.Leicester take on bottom side Newcastle on the final day so should secure the other home semi-final, with third-placed Sale, who have won five of their past six in the Premiership and travel to Exeter, their most probable opponents.Gloucester, like Saracens, lurk, hoping to capitalise on any deviation from the form book.
Care departs on his own terms
A scrum, centre field, five metres out from the Exeter line, the Stoop singing his name, a minute left on the clock - it seemed set up for a final Danny Care snipe to send off his rugby career with a try.But it doesn't work that that. Not usually. And not this time.But, still, the former England scrum-half ended the match and his career on his own term, kicking into touch to secure the team win, rather than search for a touch of personal glory.The scenes at the end were sweet. Harlequins players queued up to embrace their departing team-mate, before bearing him from the pitch on their shoulders.No de-mob rest for the 38-year-old though.Monday morning meant he was back on the Rugby Union Weekly sofa for his first appearance as a full-time civilian.