England new boy’s in contention for Gloucester

CENTRE Mark Atkinson is in line to return to the starting Gloucester side tomorrow night just days after being called up to train with England ahead of the Autumn internationals, writes John Evely.

Uncapped Atkinson, 31, inset, missed the Cherry and Whites’ 34-20 defeat to Northampton Saints last weekend on the opening day of the 2021/22 Gallagher Premiership but is fit to feature when Leicester Tigers come to Kingsholm tomorrow.

Billy Twelvetrees started at inside centre at Franklin’s Gardens with Tom Seabrook in the 13 jersey.

Gloucester head coach George Skivington labelled his offloading playmaker Atkinson ‘the best ball in hand 12 in the league’ last season when asked about his player’s England call-up along with flanker Lewis Ludlow and winger Jonny May.

In 2018/19, Atkinson was named at 12 in the Premiership Team of the Season before getting a Barbarians call-up, providing his form is hardly temporary.

Discussing Atkinson’s playing status, Skivington said: “He’s available this weekend for selection, he is good to go.”

And Skivington is getting excited about the prospect of soon fielding a centre partnership of Atkinson and Scottish star Chris Harris again, who along with Welsh winger Louis ReesZammit is back training with the club following the conclusion of their mandatory rest period after their exploits with the British and Irish Lions this summer in South Africa.

Skivington said: “It’s exciting. They (Atkinson and Harris) didn’t play together as much as we’d have liked last year (starting together just six times together in the Premiership), we saw some good games with Atkinson at 12 and Chris at 13 but not as many as we’d have liked. We’re lucky with those two, if we can get those two working together well they might even end up playing each other in international honours which would be good.

“They’re key to the squad because they’re just good blokes. They work really hard, they drive everything forward and there are no excuses from them.

“We have others in those positions as well like Billy Twelvetrees so when you’ve got a good group of blokes like that they add to your environment whether they are international players or not - that’s the value they add.”

Skivington said he is confident about the prospects for Rees-Zammit and Harris when they return in Cherry and White with six rounds of Premiership action before the Autumn internationals get underway.

He added: “Chris and Zam have come back fresh, we’ve looked after them to make sure they’re fresh and they’ve respected that and done the training we’ve asked of them away from the club. Zam and Chris are quality blokes, they both love the club and what we are doing and that is their character.”