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South Wales Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- South Wales Guardian
Seb Atkinson credits England call-up to 'freedom' at Gloucester
Seb Atkinson of England during a training session at Pennyhill Park on May 21, 2025 in Bagshot, England. (Image: Dan Mullan - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images) This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald. Seb Atkinson believes the 'freedom' he has been given by Gloucester's coaches this season has been key to his first senior England call-up. Atkinson has had a brilliant season for the Cherry & Whites and was one of 14 uncapped players in a recent training squad assembled by Steve Borthwick ahead of this summer's tour of Argentina and USA. The centre's stock has been rising for a while, having made his senior debut for Worcester in 2021, and he hopes to crown it with an international debut this summer. "You never expect a call-up, but I'm really proud," he said. 'Credit to the team and the coaching staff at Gloucester for what they've done this year. "They've given us the freedom and the exposure for me to play the way that I feel I play best, so cheers to them and hopefully I can keep moving forwards. "We had some dark times last year where people were frustrated, we weren't performing the way that we felt that we could, but credit to the coaches. "They gave us the opportunity to express ourselves and play freely. With the squad that we've got we've really taken that into our own hands this year and played some enjoyable rugby." Join us at @allianz_stad as England XV take on France XV 👊 Get your tickets now 👇 — England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) May 23, 2025 The Bromsgrove native has taken the freedom and run with it, ranking top in carries, tackles, passes, and post-contact metres and second in total metres, line break assists, and try assists among Premiership centres this campaign. He also broke Beauden Barrett's 'bronco' test world record earlier this season, clocking in at four minutes and eight seconds. "I guess I can verify it," the centre said. "We did one during the Six Nations training block. I wasn't expecting that time at all. "Our training had been pushing us to a level where I was able to achieve that, but I still surprised myself by a good 20 seconds or so." The coming tour to the Americas, which is preceded by a clash with a France XV on June 21, could be Atkinson's springboard into a long and impressive international career if he transfers his domestic performance into an England shirt. Steve Borthwick knows how important these tours can be and has identified Argentina as an opportunity for players to put their hand up. "The example you'd use would be 2017,' he said. 'Players emerged in that series against Argentina and really staked their claim two years out from the World Cup and became really important, influential players for England at the 2019 World Cup. "I have no doubt there will be players who emerge and stake their claim this summer, and say 'I want to be part of that team in 2027'. I'm looking forward to that. The enthusiasm, the energy and the excitement they bring is really, really impressive." England XV face France XV at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on Saturday 21 June at 3:15pm. Tickets from £25, please visit
BBC News
20-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Fit-again Feyi-Waboso named in England training camp
Exeter and England wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso's prospects of playing Test rugby this summer increased after the 22-year-old was selected for a two-day England training camp this has not played since dislocating his shoulder in December, with his comeback delayed by a setback suffered at an England camp in centre Seb Atkinson, Leicester back row Emeke Ilione and Sale midfielder Rekeiti Ma'asi-White are also included in a 33-strong group that does not include either British and Irish Lions, or players from Northampton and Bath, who are preparing for European finals this 20-year-old prop Afolabi Fasogbon, who was ruled out of Six Nations contention with an ankle injury, is named, along with the likes of Jamie George, George Ford and Ben Curry, who missed out on Lions selection earlier this month. England training squad Forwards:Joe Batley (Bristol Bears), Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs), Arthur Clark (Gloucester Rugby), Ben Curry (Sale Sharks), Theo Dan (Saracens), Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester Rugby), Jamie George (Saracens), Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), Emeka Ilione (Leicester Tigers), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Jack Kenningham (Harlequins), Gabriel Oghre (Bristol Bears), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Shark), Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks), Tom Willis (Saracens)Backs:Charlie Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby), Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby), Oscar Beard (Harlequins), Joe Carpenter (Sale Sharks), Tobias Elliott (Saracens), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs), George Ford (Sale Sharks), Rekeiti Ma'asi-White (Sale Sharks), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Luke Northmore (Harlequins), Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks), Harry Randall (Bristol Bears), Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers), Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers) Feyi-Waboso had a breakout campaign last season, scoring his first international try off the bench in Six Nations defeat by Scotland, before crossing in all three matches on England's summer tour of Japan and New Zealand. His top-end pace brings an extra dimension to England's attack and was sorely missed despite the team finishing second in this year's Six and England publicly disagreed over how his injury treated, with the recently-signed Professional Game Partnership giving England a greater say in the conditioning and rehabilitation of their centrally contracted head coach Rob Baxter indicated earlier this month that Feyi-Waboso could get a run-out in the Chiefs' final game of the season against Sale on 31 British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell suggested that he would supplement his initial 38-man selection for the tour of Australia with later call-ups for those who need a chance to prove their will play Argentina in Buenos Aires and San Juan on 5 July and 12 July respectively before a one-off Test against the United States on 19 July in will play an uncapped warm-up match against a France XV on 21 June at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
The Guardian
27-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Gloucester batter Exeter in record-breaking West Country derby victory
Premiership punishment beatings do not come much heavier than this record-breaking West Country derby annihilation. There was absolutely nowhere for Exeter to hide on this bright but brutal Sunday in Gloucestershire as a rampant home side rattled up 13 tries to revitalise their ambitions of making the playoffs and inflict the heaviest defeat in the Chiefs' top-division history. It would have been a proper cricket score had the Cherry and Whites not missed half a dozen conversions and it was all but inevitable from an early stage that the Chiefs'previous widest losing margin of 43 points would be blown away. Being booed by the Shed is one thing, hearing laughter ring around the ground is another level of embarrassment. The club's chair, Tony Rowe, could been seen laying down the line in the Chiefs' dressing room after the game, clearly stung by this non-performance from a team theoretically building for next season. 'That was my worst day as a coach,' said the head coach, Rob Hunter, part of the backroom staff who helped Exeter win the European and domestic double just five years ago. 'It's in no way acceptable for us to perform like that and we haven't tried to hide away from that in the changing-room. 'Tony's entirely entitled to come in and fire in to everybody. He's put a lot of time and effort into the club and everyone's expectations should be way, way higher than that. Fair play to Gloucester but we gifted them momentum at almost every opportunity.' While last week's defeat at Saracens put a slight dent in the Cherry and Whites top-four aspirations, no one will be in a rush to face George Skivington's side on this kind of form. With three games still to play – away to Quins and Newcastle and at home to Northampton – they currently sit one point behind fourth-placed Bristol and two points ahead of sixth-placed Saracens. In addition to the outstanding Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams and the deadly duo of Jack Singleton and Seb Atkinson, who contributed five tries between them, the watching England head coach Steve Borthwick will also have taken due note of several hard-working English-qualified forwards who must be pushing hard for loftier recognition. Hooker Seb Blake has been a handful all season while backrowers Jack Clement and Lewis Ludlow and prop Afo Fasogbon also caught the eye in a vibrant team performance. To say nothing went right for the Chiefs would be to put it politely. They had apparently enjoyed an upbeat training week but any semblance of confidence was eviscerated by six Cherry and White tries inside the first half hour. Two powerful driven mauls brought scores for Jack Clement and Seb Blake before the floodgates truly opened and some extravagant offloading delivered a smashing try for a delighted Lewis Ludlow. The Shed was soon purring again in the sunshine as Chris Harris, Seb Atkinson and Gareth Anscombe added further tries to extend the margin to 36-0. Exeter did belatedly string together a few attacking phases in the opposing 22, which allowed Josh Hodge to put his side on the board, but the slickness of Gloucester's handling, the inability of Chiefs to slow the ball down and some ineffectual tackling all combined to ensure a lopsided contest. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Perhaps the most outrageous assist of the lot was a 30-yard pass over the top from Williams to his left wing, Jake Morris, which sailed over the heads of multiple opponents and ended with Santiago Carreras sending Williams himself over. Gloucester are not perfect but their attack coach James Lightfoot-Brown has clearly been doing some excellent work. It was much the same story after the interval as Jamal Ford-Robinson and Christian Wade, via Carreras's unselfish assist, brought up Gloucester's half-century inside 50 minutes. Wade is off to play rugby league in Wigan where he will find life a whole lot tougher. Even the massed cavalry off the bench made little difference for the visitors, the defence melting away faster than left-over Easter eggs in the sun to permit a second try for Atkinson and more easy pickings for Singleton who collected a hat-trick of tries inside 12 minutes. Even the most exhausted London Marathon runners will feel less shattered than the Chiefs when they limp back to work this week. 'The reality is that good vibes are not enough,' stressed Hunter. 'We definitely went a little bit missing. Not having a game next week is probably a good thing for us. We're not going to brush past this.'
Times
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Times
Rekeiti Ma'asi-White: Meet Manu Tuilagi pupil on England's radar
Saracens are heading to Sale Sharks on Friday night for a Premiership showdown with significant play-off implications. Rekeiti Ma'asi-White, the latest Anglo-Tongan to burst on to the English rugby scene, was ready for battle the moment he stepped out of Sale's team meeting at Carrington. Alex Sanderson, the director of rugby, has prepared his troops by showing them clips from the Gerard Butler film, 300, a fictionalised retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae when a band of outnumbered Spartans fought valiantly to the death against the Persian army led by Xerxes. 'We talked about how it's going to be a huge battle,' Ma'asi-White says. Sanderson's message will have been for Sale to write a different ending. It could be vital in their quest for a Premiership semi-final. Three of Sale's last four regular-season games are against title rivals, with this Saracens match followed by a trip to Leicester Tigers and then a home game against Bristol Bears. Friday's clash will throw up a fascinating head-to-head between two former house-mates: Ma'asi-White, who is enjoying a breakthrough season with Sale, and Olly Hartley, the Saracens inside centre. They came through the Wasps ranks together, shared the club's academy house and now form part of a promising new generation of English midfielders. Although it has been a threadbare position for England of late, the uncapped prospects being monitored by Steve Borthwick, the head coach, include Oscar Beard, Max Ojomoh, Joseph Woodward, Seb Atkinson, Hartley and Ma'asi-White. 'There is lots of competition there,' Ma'asi-White says. 'I am a big fan of Seb Atkinson. Olly is a big threat when it comes to ball-carrying. He can play with the ball as well. He is a good guy. 'I want to play my best rugby over the next couple of weeks and hopefully push through, whether it can be England A opportunities coming up or the senior squad. That is down to me. I need to keep doing my thing in the middle.' The prospect of fielding some Tongan muscle in the red rose midfield is an enticing one for Borthwick, who invited Ma'asi-White to England A training last year. One of the most prized assets in the modern game is a centre who can dominate the gainline and is also blessed with a deftness of touch. Sione Tuipulotu, the Scotland captain, is the benchmark in that regard. Ma'asi-White studies Tuipulotu, as he studied Ma'a Nonu while growing up as the youngest sibling in a rugby-mad family. Ma'asi-White's father, Vili, played at the 2003 World Cup and won 36 caps for Tonga. He played for Ampthill until he was 41 and now coaches. When Vili was playing for Leeds, he was friends with Andy Tuilagi and, by extension, the whole clan. They would come over to the house for drinks. Ma'asi-White was a young boy at the time who supported Leicester Tigers because of the Tuilagis. For his 12th birthday he was given a Leicester shirt with Tuilagi on the back. So it was quite something for Ma'asi-White to join Sale when Wasps folded and to be set up in a master-apprentice relationship with Manu Tuilagi. 'It was good to learn from him,' he says. 'He is just so smart. He would give off this energy every day. We would talk about detail on the pitch. We would watch his good clips and my bad ones! He would also keep telling me that the opportunity would come, to stay patient.' That was sage advice. While his former England Under-20 team-mates Henry Arundell, Chandler Cunningham-South and Asher Opoku-Fordjour have won senior Test caps and others are established in the Premiership, Ma'asi-White started this season on loan with Caldy. But Sanderson left room for him in the Sale squad; a show of belief that this could be his breakthrough season in the absence of Tuilagi. Ma'asi-White earned his chance against Toulon in the Champions Cup and took it. A few big confidence-boosting carries and he was off and running. 'He is this good now at 22. Imagine where he is going to be when he is 25,' Sanderson said. 'It is exciting. He's got a good rugby bloodline, a good lineage. Vili, his dad, is a legend. Rugby is in his blood. He is such a natural player. 'You need an inside centre who can own the gainline, a Brad Barritt or a Manu Tuilagi, someone the No10 can tip off too when he is under pressure, someone who can protect the 10's outside shoulder. You need someone you can rely on to win those collisions. 'Ricky is more than a player who just dominates the gainline. He has a softness of hands and the ability to spot a gap and hit a line. That gets you through the tackle but he has the ability to offload it out the back as well. 'In the games he has played he has topped our work-rate stats. We have a rate of high-intensity exposures and he has beaten everyone. You add to that some confidence and some size, because of the power in his genetics, he is going to be some player. He needs to stay fit and keep motivated.' Ma'asi-White insists there is no issue in that regard. His brother, Samson, captained England Under-18 and was on the books at Northampton Saints but had to give up on his dream of becoming a professional rugby player when he fell ill and required a kidney transplant. 'That was a shock,' he says. 'It was very sad. He was developing into a very good hooker when he had to retire. It has definitely motivated me. I felt like I was the only one left so I want to try and be my best and play at a good level.' Ma'asi-White's father watches every minute of Sale training and gives his own feedback before every game. 'He's always on my arse,' Ma'asi-White says, laughing. 'I kind of like it. It pushes me to go further. I am trying to fill Manu's boots by bringing that energy. I want to be a player who can do it all. I want to make my own name.' One of the biggest challenges will be improving his communication. Naturally humble and deferential as the youngest sibling in a Tongan family, Ma'asi-White is also playing in between George Ford and Rob du Preez, two vocal, commanding figures. It can be daunting to speak up in that company. Sale have employed a communications expert to help him find his own voice. 'That is probably his biggest [area for] growth,' Sanderson said. 'He is used to taking instruction. The family humbles you. He needs to step out of that and become a leader, to drive decisions more. George and Rob want him to talk. It is just part of the process. You have to grow into these roles.' Ma'asi-White has gone from the Championship to the Champions Cup and now a Premiership title challenge in one breakthrough season. He is looking forward to catching up with Hartley after the game on Friday night. But first the battle. 'We know what Saracens can do. Good forwards. Smart backs. But our attack has been pretty good the last few weeks,' Ma'asi-White says. 'It's going to be physical. It's going to be a tough battle. We talked about going to war with the brothers. I was ready to go when I left the meeting.' Sale Sharks v Saracens
