George: We stuck two fingers up to the critics
England enter the final day of the Six Nations believing a first title in four years is achievable, according to captain Jamie George, who says his team “stuck two fingers up” at their detractors with victory over Ireland.
Victory over France tonight would realistically secure at least second place − England’s best finish in the championship since winning the title in 2020.
Although England would require a somewhat miraculous result in one of the day’s earlier matches to have a chance of lifting the trophy, between championship favourites Ireland and Scotland in Dublin, the skipper has tasked his team with embracing that dream scenario.
“You ignore it but I always think [winning the title] is the elephant in the room in professional sport,” said George (33).
“Sometimesyoumightjustbrushthings under the carpet a little bit. But why? Let’s talk about what the possibilities are, yes, but also not allow it to distract you. What Ireland might do in the Scotland game is out of our control, what we can do is make sure that we use the possibility of winning a trophy as motivation.
“I don’t see any issue with having an understanding of what might happen, and if things go our way in terms of other results we need to be prepared.
“Before every game so far this Six Nations, whenever we’ve been at 4.45pm I’m watching the 2.15pm kick-off because I like watching rugby, so I’ll be watching − we’ve also got a vested interest.
“We got some things really right emotionally last week in the build-up and probably a lot of that came from sticking two fingers up to some people who were saying some bad things about us after the Scotland game.
“But you can use different things to drive emotion, and I think whenever you’re playing for England you’re obviously proud and you want to show that.”
For the first time in this year’s Six Nations, Steve Borthwick has named Manu Tuilagi in his squad. The 32-year-old will depart Sale Sharks at the end of this season, and should his destination be overseas as is expected, tonight in Lyon would mark an international farewell for the centre, capped 59 times.
George admits England’s leadership group will tap into that emotion, even if Tuilagi’s future remains uncertain.
“This could be my last game for England, it could be others’ last game,” said George. “There is no tomorrow in that respect, and sometimes it’s good to use that.
“He will go down as one of the best centres to have ever played for England.” (©Telegraph Media Group Ltd, 2024)