UP ’N’ UNDER
Sam thrilled to be back in the big time after fears England career was finished
BY
SAM UNDERHILL feared he would never wear the white shirt of England again when his World Cup dream collapsed last summer.
The Bath flanker (above) was chopped early from Steve Borthwick’s training squad but was called to France when Jack Willis was injured and won man of the match in the third-place play-off.
That win over Argentina ended a 20-match absence from England’s ranks, which started with a concussion in the second Test of the 2022 series in Brisbane against Australia.
And Underhill has kept his spot, starting all three games of this Six Nations, with Ireland to come on Saturday at Twickenham and France a week later.
But the 27-year-old admitted he thought he was done at Test level after a career punctuated by injury, head bangs and that rejection last August since his 2017 debut.
“All I wanted was to get back in this team,” he said.
“And I was doubtful that would happen. This is the first time I have done a full campaign with Steve as head coach. I played the Aussie tour and didn’t play again for 18 months. My aim was to get back in and now I am, you are constantly looking for challenges or things to go wrong. I have tried to take a minute to say, ‘You are doing it, well done’. This is exactly where I want to be.
“I want to win with this team and perform as well as I can. It is a very good, caring environment. There is a lot of emotional investment from people and that will only bode well for us on the pitch.”
Underhill has played two, won two against Ireland, but has not faced them since 2020 due to injuries.
His early cutting from the
World Cup squad stunned some of the surviving back rows, with
Ben Earl saying it had been a warning shot because Underhill had been carving it up in training.
But Underhill took it on the chin, claiming it did not knock his self-belief.
He added: “Someone is going to miss out and someone missing out doesn’t mean they are a bad player.”
Borthwick will name his squad this afternoon but Exeter wing Immanuel Feyi-waboso looks set to make his first start.
Leicester’s George Martin is also in the frame for the starting pack, with George Ford favourite to start at No.10 ahead of fit-again Marcus Smith.