Rogerson: Our Henry will need protection
HENRY Arundell’s stunning rise up the rugby ladder and onto the international stage means the young England flyer will need some special ‘protection’ from his London Irish teammates.
That’s according to flanker Matt Rogerson who is confident Arundell already has the maturity to handle all the added attention and expectation on his teenage shoulders.
But with the pressures on Arundell to maintain such a high level of performance so soon in his career on a consistent basis, Rogerson feels a little helping hand and occasional word of advice from those close to him at the newly named Gtech Community Stadium will also be beneficial.
Arundell produced one of the most dynamic Test debuts in English rugby history with a try and an assist in his cameo appearance as a late replacement in Perth.
On top of his amazing 100-metre solo try against Toulon last season, it has announced him as a real dangerous player for opponents to fear. But it has also put a target on his back and Rogerson, right, claims: “Henry has certainly been impressing over the last 18 months or so and had a lot of exposure in all levels of rugby whether it’s been for the club or now his country. He’s had to learn very quickly what is required of him. That itself builds a certain expectation around him to perform well on the field all the time.
“People are aware of what you bring on the field, and will do what they can do shut you down. That will be an added challenge for him but I've every confidence in him as he has a mature head on his shoulder for a young guy. He’s been brilliant so far in what he has brought in during pre-season and I expect big things from him in the future.
“At the same time it is on the other Irish players as a group, and especially the senior guys, to ensure he's still focusing on what he needs to in his development. He is still obviously very young and has a lot of growth, so it’s up to us to protect him from the pressure he’ll be under so that he can continue to express himself and play his normal game.
“We don’t want him to feel that pressure and feel he has to live up to the hype all the time. Sometimes that can be an added challenge so we will be working our hardest to keep him on task for sure.”
England coach Eddie Jones is clearly a huge fan of Arundell having taken little time in making him part of his summer plans against the Wallabies, and likely to keep him in the fold for this autumn’s Twickenham internationals. No doubt Arundell will have one distant eye on possibly playing an explosive roll in England’s bid to finally win a second World Cup when France 2023 comes around next year.
Right now his focus, and that of everyone at Irish, is on the coming season and the desire to show that last season's thrills and spills, and eighth place finish. The Exiles are also dreaming of causing more than the odd upset in Europe, having fought their way back onto the elite club stage for the first time in a while.
Their Champions Cup opening fixtures are at home to Montpellier followed by a trip to South Africa against Stormers in December. And Rogerson says: “It’s massive for the growth of the club in terms of the commercial and playing sides. We will be playing against some of the best teams around and we want to see how far we can go. We intend to make a statement in our first year back in it.
“Attracting these bigger teams will only help boost the club's profile and build up our fan base. If we can qualify through the group stage and then get one of the top Irish teams to Brentford that would be huge.
“Being an unknown quantity will be a good thing. Some opponents may not know as much about us or what to expect. So we can impose our style of play on them which they will not be used to, and enable us to have that element of surprise about us. We will be going into it all guns blazing and expect to do well.”
And on Irish’s bid for domestic honours, he adds: “My ambition coming here was to try and win the Premiership. I know a lot of the guys at the club share that ambition.
“It will be brilliant if that comes to us this year but there’s a lot to do before that happens.”