The England Team have got together this week in Loughborough for a Elite Players squad summer camp. England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster, wants to help get as many England players into the British and Irish Lions team for next summer.
This is a good sign in the run up to the Autumn Internationals when England will face the big south hemisphere rivals at home at Twickenham. England did not have many players in the Lions Squad who played against South Africa. However Lancaster is confident more England players will make the trip to Australia in the Summer 2013.
Lancaster explained why he wants England players in the Lions team even though will mean they can’t play on the England tour of Argentina.
“I don’t see it as a personal goal for me but I see the Lions tour as a motivation for the players,”
“I told them ‘we want as many of you as possible to go on the Lions tour.’ It’s a massive thing for the players and I think it helps them become better players by going to represent England within the British and Irish Lions at the highest level.
“And, also, I want the players to feel that we’re behind them in supporting them in that journey. We want as many as possible on the tour and then I can take some development lads to Argentina.”
The only current England player in the Lions squad is Leicester player Tom Croft.
The 3 day get together was used to reinforce the future of the England and the drive to produce a world class team of world class players.
He said:
“We need seven world class players in our team and I define world class players as being in the top three in their position in the world.
“That’s the reality, we can coach, we can put systems and structures in place but we need world class players.
“A good measure will be the Lions – it’s the benchmark of four northern hemisphere sides and if you’re not playing well enough to tour with the Lions then you can’t be in the top three in the world. It will be a good barometer [of our progress] as I saw various selections for the Lions pre-South Africa and we didn’t have very many in there.
Things are looking up for England , Buy tickets for the Autumn International Games via the links to the right.
