... and the Guinness
Edinburgh at the weekend under his belt. Stuart Mcinally is the leading candidate at hooker, with Glasgow’s George Turner set for a place on the bench after being cleared following a head knock against Leinster last Friday.
“This is an opportunity for these guys,” said former Scotland skipper Blair, who now combines his skills coach role with Glasgow and the national squad.
“It is not as if Darryl and Jamie have not been playing regular rugby. Had it been the case they were only getting the occasional sub appearances you might look at that a little closer. They have done well in games they have played. They have played against good packs and come out on top. I guess what we are looking from them is that consistency. These guys are quick learners and will adapt well to international rugby.”
For Bradbury, the call continues the 22-year-old’s reintegration after he was stripped of the Edinburgh captaincy after he knocked himself out on a drunken night out in the capital early last month. He returned for his club off the bench on Saturday and scored the bonus-point clinching last-gasp try against Ospreys at Myreside. Blair believes the youngster has done all the right things since his transgression and deserves to be welcomed back.
“Absolutely. You saw that in the Ospreys game. He has a lot of character,” he said. “The way he plays he is a no-fuss operator. He can just get on with things and prove his own ability. For a young guy, the physical attributes he has got are pretty impressive. He will only get better with time.
“We still expect a lot of Magnus and he has still got the respect of the players, especially the Edinburgh guys who know him well. We saw how he worked on his extras during the summer tour and he will hopefully fit in with us smoothly.”
Blair sees no reason why Bradbury can’t one day follow in his own footsteps and captain his country.
“He has obviously shown that he has leadership capabilities,” said the 85-times capped former scrum-half. “We saw that over the summer in how he trained and how he pulled guys up with him. “[Edinburgh coach] Richard Cockerill has seen something in him as well. There was an incident and he has been reprimanded. He just needs to come back into the Scotland squad and do what he does best.” George Kruis insists England resisted the urge to “smashup” Wales during Monday’s unprecedented training session in Bristol in order to gain an insight into their set piece strength.
The RBS 6 Nations rivals locked horns at Clifton College, completing 12 scrums and 16 line-outs over 40 minutes under the scrutiny of referee Nigel Owens, to hone their set-pieces ahead the autumn series.
It had been dubbed the “Battle of Bristol” by England prop Harry Williams and while that description proved inaccurate – the session passed without incident – Eddie Jones’ pack were given a valuable work-out.
“Therewasintentthere.we were professional enough to control ourselves and understand it was a training tool rather than a smashup on the Monday of a Test week,” Kruis said. “We went in trying to get a squeeze on and as much out of it as we could. We wanted to win every scrum and wanted the intent, but it also gave us an opportunity to trial a few things and see where we’re at. It was under Test match intensity but was a good tool for us. It definitely lets us know where we’re at as a pack.”
England open their autumn series against Argentina on Saturday before Australia and Samoa visit Twickenham, knowing that come the end of November their record under Jones could stand at 22 wins from 23 Tests.
In an unexpected turn of events, England have yet to rule Elliot Daly out of the series opener against the Pumas. Daly injured his knee on Champions Cup duty for Wasps and was expected to miss the Tests against Argentinaandaustraliaandpotentially return for the climax to the autumn against Samoa, but he could yet be involved from the start.
England scrum coach Neal Hatley said: “Elliot is in camp and being assessed.”