McCAW BLIMEY
Big-tackling Underhill called up for England and likened to All Blacks legend after just ONE GAME for new club Bath
EVEN for a student who hates maths, Sam Underhill knows these numbers add up.
Twenty five tackles and 12 carries on his Bath debut had boss Todd Blackadder purring and Eddie Jones summoning him into his England squad.
Now Blackadder, a former All Black who played alongside and coached Richie McCaw, says his young English openside has the potential to reach similar heights to New Zealand’s World Cupwinning captain (below).
“If Sam plays consistently the way he played that first game then there is no reason why he can’t be of that ilk, no reason at all,” claimed his club coach.
“Richie’s core skill was his mental toughness. And I’ve not seen anyone that had the cardio capacity he had. He would just go all day.
“You saw a lot of those traits in Sam.
“His repeated effort – he doesn’t stop – he just fires into everything.
“He is physical, he is hard, he gets up and does it again.”
Underhill’s debut against Northampton a fortnight ago ended with him being concussed.
As a result he did not play last week, but makes his second start tomorrow at Wasps.
James Haskell against Underhill: no wonder England forwards coach Steve Borthwick will be in attendance.
For the 21-year-old undergraduate is regarded as the missing piece in the jigsaw England have been building under Jones.
The Aussie came into the job with an out-andout open-side at the top of his wish list. Unable to find one in English rugby his eye was drawn to a teenager playing for Ospreys.
Underhill had slipped through the net at Gloucester after captaining England Under-18s, and instead chosen to enrol at Cardiff University.
Playing outside of the Aviva Premiership made him ineligible for England, but Jones went to Wales to meet him in February 2016 and kept in close contact thereafter.
So when Underhill switched to Bath in the summer he was fasttracked into the England squad and quickly handed his full debut against Argentina.
Six weeks today the Pumas are back for more and Underhill, who is mentored by World Cup winner Richard Hill, could well keep his place.
Assuming, of course, he stays on the pitch.
Underhill puts his head where it hurts in a sport in which the casualty rate is becoming alarming.
Four Harlequins players, for example, are ruled out of today’s clash against the Saints with concussions.
“As backrowers the game is getting quicker and guys are getting bigger,” said Underhill.
“So there are probably going to be more injuries.”