Stooke: Spencer deserves shot with England
BEN Spencer’s astonishing impact for Bath must surely have done enough to earn a proper shot with England, says team-mate Elliott Stooke.
Stooke, who also has Red Rose ambitions, has been in awe of Spencer’s contribution to a side that has raced into title contention since lockdown.
The arrival of Spencer,
from Saracens has coincided with Bath claiming 35 points from eight games since the Premiership resumed in August. They travel to Spencer’s old stomping ground next week with a potential home semifinal up for grabs.
With England boss Eddie Jones assessing his options, second row Stooke told
“We’ve come together united as a team since lockdown but we’re all glad we’ve got Ben Spencer’s left foot.
“He’s been superb and his attitude and professionalism around the club has been an absolute role model for everyone. Our young
No.9s are thriving from having him and Will Chudley around and Spenny’s been absolutely fantastic.
“He’s taken a lot of pressure off Rhys Priestland having to do most of the exits and his game-management has been superb. He’s also popping up for quite a few tries as well so it’s been brilliant to have his influence around the club.
“I hope the boss (Jones) picks him for England because he deserves it. He’s an outstanding player who works hard, drives hard and has fitted into our system perfectly.”
After limping into lockdown in sixth place with just 30 points from 13 games, Stuart Hooper’s side have shown new-found grit, typified by Tuesday’s stunning come-from-behind 31-20 win over Gloucester after trailing 20-3 late on.
Stooke said: “Rhys Priestland has been around a bit and he said he’s never been involved in a team like it where everyone’s so calm. We just stuck to what we knew and when someone like Rhys says that, you know you’re doing something right.
“Everyone went about things their own way during lockdown but while teams like Northampton have come out weaker, we’ve had a huge collective buy-in and we used the situation to our advantage to come out much stronger because of it.
“It’s hard to quantify it but we’ve emerged as a squad totally united and we’ve got massive trust in our depth in every position. It’s been a huge collective effort and we go to Saracens now knowing we need a result to get ourselves in the play-offs.
“We don’t want our season to end there and we can’t leave it to other people’s results. It’s a big game and whatever Saracens side they put out will be good, so we’ll need to be at our best if we’re to give ourselves a shot at making the top two.”
With Stooke among a number of Bath’s powerpacked forwards putting their hands up for England selection, he added: “The boss is always in contact with me and it’s good to hear from him. Whatever his decision is I’ll respect it.
“He wants the best team for him, which I’ve no issue with, and whatever happens will happen. I’d be delighted to be selected because that’s the dream, but it’s one thing at a time and at the moment we’re all driving for success at Bath.”