Jamie George urges England to ‘show passion’ in Six Nations battle with Wales
Jamie George has delivered an impassioned rallying cry to his England charges as they prepare to host Wales on Saturday, urging them to wear their hearts on their sleeves at Twickenham.
Steve Borthwick has named an unchanged XV for the first time in his tenure – and England’s first since the 2019 World Cup final – as they return to Twickenham for the first time since their humiliating defeat by Fiji in August. England’s recent record at Twickenham is dreadful – they have won just three of their last 10 matches at their home ground there – and face a Wales side buoyed by their impressive second half against Scotland last weekend.
Historically this has been a fixture that stirs the soul in Wales but George has insisted that England’s opponents do not have a monopoly on passion. “Something we have talked about a lot as a group is passion and not being afraid to show passion,” he said. “First and foremost, the emotion in a game is important. It resonates with people because it allows you to show them how much it means to you to play for England.
“I’ve certainly been encouraging of that this week. If people want to use that passion and emotion, as long as we are controlled and clear about what we are doing rugby-wise, I don’t see why we shouldn’t do that.”
Ellis Genge’s return to the bench, after he was a late withdrawal from the 23 against Italy last weekend, means home debuts for Ethan Roots and Fraser Dingwall from the start while Fin Smith, Chandler Cunningham-South and the Cardiff-born winger Immanuel
Feyi-Waboso will all sample the Twickenham atmosphere for the first time provided they come off the bench.
“It is an important step now those players have now entered that Test environment, that they have that continuity and cohesion with it,” said Borthwick.
“It is a new team that we have here in so many different ways. They just want to go out and they want to play. It’s me ensuring we keep them for Saturday, they are physically ready for Saturday and that we are peaking for Saturday, not peaking in the middle of the week. These guys, they just want to play. And it has genuinely lifted the standard across the board, this speed and energy that’s been brought in, and injected into the squad with these younger players. There is also an excitement about what we are trying to do and the journey we are on now as a new team.”
Recent matches between these two sides have featured a number of offthe-ball incidents, including Alun Wyn Jones successfully winding up Kyle Sinckler and Joe Marler grabbing the former Wales captain’s genitals.
George added: “I think I’ll certainly miss Alun Wyn. I think you always have got to use your experience. I don’t get too worried about the off-the-ball stuff and all that kind of thing. I think it probably takes care of itself because if you run at someone you’ve got an opportunity to be more physical than them and that probably says it all. And we’ll try and do our talking with our rugby.”