Latest news with #LeicesterTigers
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
England brilliance in Argentina gives Steve Borthwick problem to solve and ignites World Cup dream
Eight years ago an England team travelled to Argentina and achieved a 2-0 series victory against the odds before going onto reach the Rugby World Cup final. There is still a long way to go before Steve Borthwick's side can dream of emulating the class of 2019, but Jack van Poortvliet's late try ensured that they ticked off the first of those objectives. The Leicester Tigers scrum half came off the bench in San Juan to snatch a 22-17 win over Los Pumas, after being brilliantly set up by a fellow replacement, Bath's Guy Pepper. How Borthwick manages his back-row riches is anyone's guess, with the recent Premiership champion showing that he needs to be in the conversation alongside Sam Underhill, the Curry brothers, Ben Earl and Henry Pollock – and those are just the openside flankers. In 2017, it was Underhill and Tom Curry who debuted against Los Pumas and went onto spearhead England's charge to the World Cup final in Japan two years later. On this evidence, there will be several international-class players who will not even make it onto the plane to Australia in 2027. England did not have it all their own way in San Juan, but had the game finished in a draw, as looked likely heading into the final minutes, there would have been regrets. The second half was played almost exclusively in Argentina territory with just one George Ford penalty to show for it before Van Poortvliet's late score. Ford, who was captaining England on his own after co-captain Jamie George's late withdrawal after his call-up by the Lions, admitted as much. He said: 'We found a way in the end. We had a lot of opportunities in the 22 but couldn't get over the line, I'm proud of the boys. I like our fight, our togetherness, showing how much we care. There was some great stuff, we should have scored more tries but the attitude of the group is great.' England had made two changes to the team that triumphed 35-12 in La Plata, with Luke Northmore given a debut in place of the injured Henry Slade at outside centre, and Theo Dan promoted to starting hooker duty late on for George, with Curtis Langdon coming onto the bench for his first cap in four years. That disruption did not seem to affect them as Seb Atkinson scored a first Test try after just four minutes. A Ford cross-kick to Tom Roebuck created the chance. He found Northmore who fed his midfield partner and England were ahead. Santiago Carreras knocked over a long-range penalty from 45 metres on the angle to get the home side on the board, before Ben Curry was shown a yellow card for a shoulder to the head of Pablo Matera – winning his 111th cap to become Argentina's most capped player. In Curry's absence, Argentina scored one and it could have been more, busy scrum-half Simon Benitez Cruz putting in Lucio Cinti as he caught the eye on his first Test start. Curry's return coincided with England regaining control, Ford and Will Muir combining to put Freddie Steward over for their second try. But right on half-time, Argentina regained the lead, a speculative chip kick from Carreras got a kind bounce and with the aid of the post, Ignacio Mendy dotted down. They led 17-14 as a result. Having done real damage at scrum-time in the first half, it was England's maul that allowed them to control the second, but time and again, they missed chances to break the game open. A Ford penalty drew them level but it was scant reward, such was their level of dominance. Even when Matera went to the sin-bin after the latest maul penalty, England could not capitalise. That was until Pepper collected a ball near halfway and raced down the left, handing off tacklers before feeding Van Poortvliet to seal victory. The decisions start now for Borthwick, with another chance to give his youngsters international game time in Washington DC next weekend against the USA. When everyone is available in November, however, he will have the most agreeable of selection dilemmas on his hands. Purchase your tickets to the Autumn Nations Series at Allianz Stadium
IOL News
2 days ago
- Sport
- IOL News
Leicester Tigers-bound Micke Günter raising the bar at set-piece time for the Springboks Women
Springbok Women's hooker Micke Günter believes her upcoming move to the Leicester Tigers will help take her game to the next level. The experienced former Bulls Daisies front-row forward recently sealed a deal with the Premiership Women's team and will remain in the UK after the upcoming Rugby World Cup. 'Yeah, I think it's been a dream of mine for a very long time,' she told the media after Bok training at UCT on Monday. 'The Bulls set such a good standard, the first professional side in South Africa, and they took me on and I gained so much experience from them. 'I just have to give them credit for what they're doing for the women's game at the moment. 'But now it's my next chapter, going over to Leicester. I'm excited to see what's in store for me. 'The first thing that comes to mind is the standard at Leicester. It's a really good club to integrate in. They're building at the moment, so I think I'll integrate quite well. Yeah, I think it's just to embrace the cultures and just embrace everything that goes with it.'
Rhyl Journal
2 days ago
- Sport
- Rhyl Journal
Van Poortvliet makes upbeat admission after England battle past USA
The Leicester Tigers star, 24, was part of Steve Borthwick's team that beat the USA 40-5 in Washington DC on Saturday night to round off a summer clean sweep of victories after an impressive 2-0 win in Argentina. The match in the American capital kicked off an hour later than planned due to a lightning strike in the area, with the game then halted by a further half an hour on 29 minutes when another struck within 10 miles of the ground when England were 14-0 up. The disruption followed several similar incidents at the recent Club World Cup in the US, with champions Chelsea's clash against Benfica delayed by nearly two hours after the Portuguese giants endured an even longer disruption against Auckland City. Scrum-half Van Poortvliet, one of six England try-scorers at Audi Field, admits the stop-start nature of the contest hampered England's fluency but hopes experiencing it as a group will prepare them in case a similar scenario unfolds in the future. 'I've never experience it before,' he said 'Going into a game, warming up, having it cut off then again after 20 odd minutes makes it really hard. 'It definitely does take it out of you a little bit – but it's probably great to have experienced now. 'You never know situations that might happen in big games in the future, so now we've all experienced that it's probably great for us. 'The staff were brilliant but we probably came out a bit slow at the start of the game. But we came out a lot better after the second stoppage.' Van Poortvliet, Curtis Langdon, Luke Northmore, Cadan Murley, Harry Randall and debutant Gabriel Oghre all scored to make it three transatlantic wins from three and extend England's winning run to seven matches – their longest streak since back in 2020. Langdon, Northmore and Murley – post-half an hour delay – all dotted down in the opening period that also saw USA fly-half Chris Hilsenbeck pick up a yellow card. And Van Poortvliet, Randall and Oghre added three more in the second to help England power to victory. USA grabbed a late consolation through Shilo Klein to give the home fans who remained something to cheer about but England's work was done as they ended their triumphant tour in style. England will now enjoy their summer break before gearing up for crunch autumn internationals against the likes of Australia and New Zealand at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. And Van Poortvliet, England's matchwinner in the second Test against Argentina last weekend, added: 'It was by no means the greatest game to watch today but it's good to end on a win. 'It's been a great few weeks and we wanted to make sure we ended on a high. 'I've loved these few weeks with the lads – it's been an amazing group and it's such good fun. 'We're slightly disappointed with the performance but we're really happy with how the tour's gone in general and to get the win.' Purchase your tickets to the Autumn Nations Series at Allianz Stadium
North Wales Chronicle
2 days ago
- Sport
- North Wales Chronicle
Van Poortvliet makes upbeat admission after England battle past USA
The Leicester Tigers star, 24, was part of Steve Borthwick's team that beat the USA 40-5 in Washington DC on Saturday night to round off a summer clean sweep of victories after an impressive 2-0 win in Argentina. The match in the American capital kicked off an hour later than planned due to a lightning strike in the area, with the game then halted by a further half an hour on 29 minutes when another struck within 10 miles of the ground when England were 14-0 up. The disruption followed several similar incidents at the recent Club World Cup in the US, with champions Chelsea's clash against Benfica delayed by nearly two hours after the Portuguese giants endured an even longer disruption against Auckland City. Scrum-half Van Poortvliet, one of six England try-scorers at Audi Field, admits the stop-start nature of the contest hampered England's fluency but hopes experiencing it as a group will prepare them in case a similar scenario unfolds in the future. 'I've never experience it before,' he said 'Going into a game, warming up, having it cut off then again after 20 odd minutes makes it really hard. 'It definitely does take it out of you a little bit – but it's probably great to have experienced now. 'You never know situations that might happen in big games in the future, so now we've all experienced that it's probably great for us. 'The staff were brilliant but we probably came out a bit slow at the start of the game. But we came out a lot better after the second stoppage.' Van Poortvliet, Curtis Langdon, Luke Northmore, Cadan Murley, Harry Randall and debutant Gabriel Oghre all scored to make it three transatlantic wins from three and extend England's winning run to seven matches – their longest streak since back in 2020. Langdon, Northmore and Murley – post-half an hour delay – all dotted down in the opening period that also saw USA fly-half Chris Hilsenbeck pick up a yellow card. And Van Poortvliet, Randall and Oghre added three more in the second to help England power to victory. USA grabbed a late consolation through Shilo Klein to give the home fans who remained something to cheer about but England's work was done as they ended their triumphant tour in style. England will now enjoy their summer break before gearing up for crunch autumn internationals against the likes of Australia and New Zealand at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. And Van Poortvliet, England's matchwinner in the second Test against Argentina last weekend, added: 'It was by no means the greatest game to watch today but it's good to end on a win. 'It's been a great few weeks and we wanted to make sure we ended on a high. 'I've loved these few weeks with the lads – it's been an amazing group and it's such good fun. 'We're slightly disappointed with the performance but we're really happy with how the tour's gone in general and to get the win.' Purchase your tickets to the Autumn Nations Series at Allianz Stadium
Leader Live
2 days ago
- Sport
- Leader Live
Van Poortvliet makes upbeat admission after England battle past USA
The Leicester Tigers star, 24, was part of Steve Borthwick's team that beat the USA 40-5 in Washington DC on Saturday night to round off a summer clean sweep of victories after an impressive 2-0 win in Argentina. The match in the American capital kicked off an hour later than planned due to a lightning strike in the area, with the game then halted by a further half an hour on 29 minutes when another struck within 10 miles of the ground when England were 14-0 up. The disruption followed several similar incidents at the recent Club World Cup in the US, with champions Chelsea's clash against Benfica delayed by nearly two hours after the Portuguese giants endured an even longer disruption against Auckland City. Scrum-half Van Poortvliet, one of six England try-scorers at Audi Field, admits the stop-start nature of the contest hampered England's fluency but hopes experiencing it as a group will prepare them in case a similar scenario unfolds in the future. 'I've never experience it before,' he said 'Going into a game, warming up, having it cut off then again after 20 odd minutes makes it really hard. 'It definitely does take it out of you a little bit – but it's probably great to have experienced now. 'You never know situations that might happen in big games in the future, so now we've all experienced that it's probably great for us. 'The staff were brilliant but we probably came out a bit slow at the start of the game. But we came out a lot better after the second stoppage.' Van Poortvliet, Curtis Langdon, Luke Northmore, Cadan Murley, Harry Randall and debutant Gabriel Oghre all scored to make it three transatlantic wins from three and extend England's winning run to seven matches – their longest streak since back in 2020. Langdon, Northmore and Murley – post-half an hour delay – all dotted down in the opening period that also saw USA fly-half Chris Hilsenbeck pick up a yellow card. And Van Poortvliet, Randall and Oghre added three more in the second to help England power to victory. USA grabbed a late consolation through Shilo Klein to give the home fans who remained something to cheer about but England's work was done as they ended their triumphant tour in style. England will now enjoy their summer break before gearing up for crunch autumn internationals against the likes of Australia and New Zealand at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. And Van Poortvliet, England's matchwinner in the second Test against Argentina last weekend, added: 'It was by no means the greatest game to watch today but it's good to end on a win. 'It's been a great few weeks and we wanted to make sure we ended on a high. 'I've loved these few weeks with the lads – it's been an amazing group and it's such good fun. 'We're slightly disappointed with the performance but we're really happy with how the tour's gone in general and to get the win.' Purchase your tickets to the Autumn Nations Series at Allianz Stadium
