Courtney’s itching to go again for England
RAMPAGING Lions lock Courtney Lawes says he will not give up his England place lightly and insists he has no interest in allowing himself to be rested for this November’s Tests.
Red Rose supremo Eddie Jones has indicated he may stand down some England players who featured heavily for the Lions during the recent drawn series against New Zealand.
Lawes was prominent Down Under, recovering from an early tour head knock to come off the bench in the last two Tests as Warren Gatland’s side recovered from 1-0 down.
His absence from England’s tour of Argentina opened doors for Joe Launchbury, Charlie Ewels and Nick Isiekwe to impress, but Lawes – a second row ever-present during the last Six Nations – aims to re-establish his positional dominance at the earliest opportunity.
“I definitely want to play in November,” Lawes told
The Rugby Paper. “It was a long tour with the Lions, probably the most highly pressurised experience I’ve been through, but I didn’t play as much in the Tests as I’d have liked and I don’t feel that I warrant a rest.
“It was a long season, but mentally I didn’t find the tour too bad and I’ve only just returned to training at Northampton after having a full five weeks off, so I’m actually feeling pretty fresh and I’ll be ready to go again for England when the time comes.
“Eddie wants to see young guys coming through and that’s fair enough, but I feel I’ve got some serious potential for this season and what lies ahead with England.”
England’s two-Test victory over Argentina impressed Lawes, who added: “Eddie kept us up to date with everything and you were always watching to see how they were doing. They obviously did really well so there’s always competition for places in every position.
“But I’ve stopped worrying about how other people are playing now and I just worry about what I can contribute. All I can do is carry on what I’ve been doing over the last year, keep improving my game and look to be in great shape for Argentina in November.
“I wasn’t at the recent training camp but I’ll catch up with Eddie soon and make sure he’s happy with everything. After that it’s very important to get a good start with Northampton because the boys have been doing some good stuff and I’m trying to play catch-up.
“I’m getting a bit of a beasting in training at the moment and trying to learn a lot of new calls, but I should be ready for the new season when we take on Saracens.”
With no fewer than 17 England players involved on the Lions tour, Lawes reveals how forwards coach Steve Borthwick organised a post-tour debrief with his Red Rose contingent in order to learn lessons for when they finally take on New Zealand in 2018.
Lawes explained: “We did a review as England players on the key things the Kiwis do and what we can do to help ourselves against them when the time comes.
“Steve led that after the tour and you have to do things like that, especially when the matches are so fresh in your head. We made notes of the potential weaknesses and strengths New Zealand have and, hopefully, that will stand us in good stead when we need it.
“Steve was excellent throughout the tour. It was another step up for him coaching-wise but he was ready for that because he’s over and above anything I’ve seen before in terms of knowledge and the way he coaches. He really stood out over the seven weeks.”
Lawes concedes the Lions were fortunate to draw the series after referee Romain Poite’s dramatic reversal of a late penalty award against Ken Owens in the third and final Test. However, he reckons anything less than a tied series would have been a travesty.
He added: “It looked a fair bit offside when I saw the replay after the game but fortunately they didn’t get the penalty and it worked out alright in the end.
“It would have felt terrible if we’d lost that game. We wanted to win the series and it felt strange getting a draw, but losing would have been very hard to take.
“That tour was right up there as an experience, though, and it’s made be a better player. I’m ready to prove that with England and I’m excited for November.”