World Cup would be a dream come true – but playing well for Saracens comes first
Michael Rhodes is ready for an England call even if it is to face his native South Africa, writes Mick Cleary
For a man whose family live in the extremities of South Africa on the edge of the Kruger Park, a trip to the far-flung north-east of England ought not to hold too much in the way of anxiety for Michael Rhodes – but the Saracens flanker is nothing if not a grafting, down-to-earth blindside character, one who takes nothing for granted.
The back-row forward heads to Kingston Park today all too aware that Newcastle Falcons have the potential to put a dent into any side and will be eager to build on their breakthrough season, when they reached the play-offs for the first time.
Rhodes also pays little heed to his recent elevation to the England training squad who gathered at the start of last month, the 30-year-old having qualified through the threeyear residency rule in July. Eddie Jones wasted little time in calling him into camp to see what he was made of at close quarters.
“Michael is definitely good enough for international rugby,” says Saracens’ director of rugby Mark McCall, who brought him to the UK from Super Rugby franchise the Stormers, .
“We didn’t know him that well but we knew that he was tough, very tough, and we could see that he had potential. His collision work, whether running at opponents or with opponents running at him, is at a very high level. We thought that we could improve his work off the ball, the regularity of his contributions, and that is what has happened through his own hard work.”
England are well stocked with blindside flankers, less so with opensides, but then so too are Saracens, who have Calum Clark, Schalk Burger and Billy Vunipola all available for back-row slots next week, with the likes of utility locks Maro Itoje and Nick Isiekwe also able to do a shift there.
Yet Rhodes is so highly regarded at the club for his industry, his athleticism, his power – forwards coach Alex Sanderson once remarking that Rhodes “puts the fear of God into the opposition with his carries and collisions” – that he was voted players’ player of the year in 2017.
McCall is surprised that South Africa, with their recently imposed more open-ended policy towards selection under Rassie Erasmus, have not come looking. Rhodes, though, only has eyes for the job in hand: performing well against Newcastle to keep his place in the team.
“Do that and everything else takes care of itself,” said Rhodes, back in clover after an injury-blighted season that included four operations to sort a collarbone issue. “I didn’t come here to aim for an England place as I’d subconsciously closed the door on international rugby when I made the move.
“It was a lifestyle choice as well as a sporting one. I was recently married and had been a professional since leaving school. [Former lock and captain] Alistair Hargreaves was a good friend at Saracens and I knew several others at the club. It was a good fit for me.
“Even if England wasn’t a goal, I’d like to give it my best shot now that an opportunity has presented itself. The August camp was great, but brief. I just need to knuckle down. “There was never any hard feelings about the Springboks or anything like that.”
Rhodes, though, does acknowledge that it would be odd if he were to make the England squad for the Quilter International series as the opening game on Nov 3 is against South Africa.
“If I were to start then it would be stupid to say that it would not be strange, and I just don’t know what my emotions would be,” said Rhodes, who was in South Africa in June when England were on tour. “Of course, a lot of my Saracens team-mates were playing for England, so I wanted them to do well, while all my family and friends naturally enough were rooting for the Springboks.”
The parents of Saracens hooker Jamie George spent a couple of days on the Rhodeses 750-hectare fruit farm – mangoes, pawpaws, sugar cane, lychees – where Michael spent his formative years after being born in Durban.
“I love the farm lifestyle, laid back but with a lot of hard work to do,” said Rhodes, who is used to assorted Kruger wildlife of elephants or leopards – or whatever – roaming free. “There are animals all over the place,” he said. “There is a fence, but animals being animals they tend to get out every now and then.”
Rhodes, who arrived in 2015, has two more years to run on his extended contract. His sights are firmly set on helping Saracens to defend their Premiership title and reassert themselves in Europe.
If England happens, with a World Cup looming, so much the better. But it is the here and now that occupies his thoughts.
“A World Cup would be a dream come true,” said Rhodes. “But I try not to think about it too much. Kingston Park is tough enough.”
‘I didn’t come to aim for an England place as I’d subconsciously closed the door on international rugby’