Punch-up helped us, insists Kruis
BUT YESTERDAY WAS ‘JUST HUGS’
ENGLAND and Georgia managed to avoid any further fighting yesterday after their trainingground brawls 24 hours earlier.
As revealed by Sportsmail, players from both sides traded punches in mass fights when the packs locked horns in live scrums at St Edward’s School in Oxford on Wednesday. But tempers were under control on the second day when the teams simulated match conditions in a 15 v 15 session and also staged lineout drills.
Georgia head coach Milton Haig told Sportsmail: ‘It was awesome — there was a lot more control than yesterday! Everyone had got it out of their system. We had a period where both teams were suited up in tackle suits. It got quite physical and it was bloody good. Eddie and all their coaches were stoked about how it went.’
England lock George Kruis believes Eddie Jones’s side will benefit from Wednesday’s confrontations.
‘We learn from these things. It puts us under pressure. It’s a contact sport,’ he told the BBC. ‘You are put in the heat of the moment and then come away from it with a clear head. It has been great for us. It gives us a chance to go against an opposition we don’t play too much. Chuck some curve balls in and figure it out.’
Asked if any more punches were thrown yesterday, Kruis quipped: ‘Just hugs!’
England forwards coach Steve Borthwick attempted to downplay the brawls as ‘pushing and shoving’ — which certainly wasn’t the extent of it. He added: ‘The guys scrummed hard against each other. It was a good session and today was a good session as well.’ Meanwhile, Ben Youngs added another English voice to a global player outcry over a new World League concept — with latest reports suggesting an increase in Tests each year and no place for most tier-two nations.
The scrum-half said: ‘What do I want as a player? I want to be looked after, in terms of my welfare, and I don’t want to be caught between club and country. But also, you want the game to be as big as it can, in a global sense.’
There are claims that World Rugby’s plan would involve up to five Tests on consecutive weekends each autumn but Youngs added: ‘A year or two ago, they were looking to bring the Six Nations down by one week and it wasn’t passed because of welfare. So it would seem strange if they allowed five (Tests in five weeks).’