Challenge from Ruan Ackermann bringing out the best in Big Ben
FIT-AGAIN No.8 Ben Morgan is ready to rise to the challenge thrown down by young pretender Ruan Ackermann as Gloucester target a first Premiership title.
Forgotten England man Morgan was hampered by hamstring and calf injuries during the first half of a campaign that has seen Gloucester emerge as a threat, with 22-year-old Ackermann proving one of the stars of the season since joining from the Lions last August. Morgan told The Rugby
Paper: “Ruan’s been playing brilliantly and it doesn’t make it easy for someone coming back from injury. It’s never been a case of just walking back into the team – and rightly so when you’ve got guys playing unbelievably well.
“You’ve got to earn the right, but I’ve been getting good game time under my belt since returning in early January and I’m trying hard to put down a big marker.
“You know you’ve got to work twice as hard to get up to speed and get into a position to contend for a place, but we’ve got three big league games coming up and I’m totally focused on pushing guys like Ruan and Freddie Clarke as hard as I can.”
Morgan won the last of his 31 England caps in the ill-fated 2015 World Cup defeat to Australia.
At 28, however, he still feels he has a Test future, adding: “It can be a bit boom and bust with international selection sometimes, but as a forward in particular you’ve perhaps got a bit of time on your side and there’s still the goal of international honours. “It isn’t the be-all-andend-all, though, and if you solely focus on that you’ll lose focus on putting in performances for your club. My main aim is getting myself right for Gloucester and if we continue doing well, you hope the England selectors will be watching.”
Gloucester’s resurgence has surprised many people, but Morgan says: “I don’t think we’re in the top four by accident. If you look at our performances we’ve been playing well, but even when we haven’t we’ve won games that last year we’d have lost.
“Johan Ackermann’s come in and done brilliantly. Our philosophy as a club has always been to throw the ball about and we’ve got players who are equipped to do that, so he’s just focused more on our team bonding and keeping us really tight as a group.
“We’ve got a fit squad now and our big driver is playing the Gloucester brand of rugby. If we’re able to do that, I’m confident we will make the play-offs.”