Eddie has his eye on Watson
ANTHONY WATSON will be playing for a Calcutta Cup place and praying for a change in fortune when he runs out at the Rec for Bath against the Premiership leaders Wasps today.
A hellish season, chronically disrupted by two serious injuries sustained at separate England training sessions, has meant the thoroughbred wing has yet to add to his 24 caps this season.
A Twickenham date with Scotland next weekend is up for grabs if he can demonstrate his sharpness to the watching Eddie Jones and stay in one piece today. Fingers crossed. There are no guarantees the way Watson’s season has unfolded.
“It has been massively frustrating in terms of injuries for me this year,” he said. “Once you get over the fact you’re not going to be involved you want to watch the lads be successful and build something bigger and better, something that you’ll be part of when you’re fit.
“From my own point of view it’s about trying to get involved in the match-day squad for the next game and putting my best foot forward.
“It’s part of life and part and parcel of the sport we play – I’m not in control of those type of things. You just have to move on and try to get better from it.
“I’ve been working on my speed since the injury so it has been a blessing in some regards, I guess.”
Watson does not sound entirely convinced.
If the work he did with sprint coach Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo during his enforced lay-off for a broken jaw after a clash of heads with Marland Yarde in the autumn has made one of England’s quickest players even quicker, as he claims, the chances to demonstrate that supercharged pace have been fleeting. The hamstring problem he picked up in Portugal in January put paid to the first two games of the Six Nations and England’s initial plan to reintegrate him against Italy last Sunday was revised when Eddie Jones concluded he was not quite ready. The 23-year-old’s release from the national squad to take on the Premiership’s top try-scorer Christian Wade today gives Watson the chance to revise that assessment. “Everyone wants to talk about Wasps’ attacking threat but we are concentrating on what we can do to them in terms of defence and then when we get our chances implementing our attacking plan on them,” said Watson.
“My focus is on trying to bring an energy to the side and working as hard as possible to try to get the win this weekend.”
The fallow weekend in the Six Nations programme is usually a window for international coaches to come up for air but this one is demanding greater attention than most.
There are choices to be made and evidence from this weekend to be sifted.
Like Jones, Wales caretaker coach Rob Howley will also have an eye on events at the Rec where Taulupe Faletau and Luke Charteris are in action for Bath and Thomas Young in the Wasps back row.
Jones will be transferring his scrutiny to Newcastle tomorrow where the Vunipola brothers start for Saracens in a game which also sees the return of Scotland wing Sean Maitland from a rib injury.
No8 Billy Vunipola is being thrown back in three weeks ahead of schedule in what will be his first game for three months.
He said: “I’m really excited to be back out there and I’d like to thank the whole medical team for their support throughout my time out. I’m feeling refreshed, the body feels great.”
I’ve been working on my speed