Dingwall’s doing his Saints mentor proud
HARD-HITTING centre Fraser Dingwall is determined to put in a World Cup-winning display for England U20s against France today to enhance his first team claims at Northampton.
■ New boss: Chris Boyd the match-winning try. “It was satisfying as it was one of those moments that led to a try, but other boys make tackles that are try-saving that aren’t highlighted,” said modest Dingwall. “I enjoy that defensive role at 13, though, and rather than just being a physical presence, I try to read the opposition attacks and impose myself there as well.” Dingwall has proved instrumental in an impressive England attack that has notched 22 tries in four games during the tournament. He knows one more lungbursting effort will be needed to see off a dangerous French side improving game-to-game.
He added: “They’ve really come alive in this tournament. It’s a typical French team in many ways with big, bruising forwards who will challenge you in the set-piece and make you work hard around the pitch, but they’ve got skilful backs as well.
“They’ve got a lot of pace and play an intense game, but that’s not dissimilar to what we’re aspiring to as well so it should be a really good match-up.
“Our attack’s going well and hopefully we can bring what we did in the first half against South Africa, only this time keep it going for 80 minutes.” looking to work hard with the U20s out in France, and hopefully that will lead to opportunities when we get back to Saints.
“I was involved with the Wanderers last season and we’ve had success there, winning the A-League two years running, so we’re part of a tight-knit group of younger players who are looking forward to getting stuck in and competing for first team places.”
A series of bone-jarring interventions from Dingwall helped England overcome South Africa in last Tuesday’s tourniquet-tight semi-final, with one crunching second half effort creating the loose ball snapped up by Jordan Olowofela for do enjoy defence, which is slightly different to a lot of people, and Rob Horne’s been a massive influence on me in terms of having a similar style of play.
“What he brought to the game in terms of commitment was a big thing for me and I learnt a lot off him in how he conducted himself and the information he gave others.
“Myself and James Grayson have just been
Defensive linchpin Dingwall has been identified by new Saints boss Chris Boyd as one of the candidates to fill the boots of retired Wallaby Test star Rob Horne, with the 19-year-old justifying his billing with a series of outstanding displays at the Junior World Cup. Dingwall credits Horne,
right, for providing his tough-tackling inspiration, telling The Rugby Paper: “I