England World Cup winner Jason Leonard has called on former Sale Shark Henry Thomas to be patient for both club and country as he looks to oust club-mate David Wilson from the Red Rose No.3 jersey.
Thomas, a former Millfield School pupil who has been capped seven times for England already, swapped Sale Sharks in the summer for a move to the Rec and despite being frustrated at being the second cab off the rank for club and country this season – Leonard insists the 22-year-old has made the right move.
In the absence of Dan Cole, Wilson has established himself as England’s premier tighthead in the last 12 months, while the former Newcastle Falcon is also keeping Thomas out of the Bath side presently.
Leonard, who won 114 England caps during an illustrious 13-year international career, knows a thing or two about the dark arts of the scrum and after seeing Thomas’ development this season – the former Harlequin is predicting a bright future for the young prop.
“Like most professional clubs now you need two players in every position and most clubs won’t go as far to say they’ve got a rota system, but they have to a certain degree,” said Leonard.
“Games now take a huge toll physically on players, none more so in the front row so you need players of the calibre of Henry Thomas, even on the bench.
“While I don’t think it suits Henry’s England ambitions straight away, he will get games at Bath and he will be seen. Bath has got a very good squad – it’s no secret why they are doing well at this moment in time.
“They have a bloody good squad and are playing some good rugby and Henry is part of that as well.
“He most probably would have gone to Bath thinking, ‘here we go’ but it just shows you that David Wilson is having a fantastic season as well.
“You’ve just got to play the games and hopefully you play the games in front of the selectors and they choose you. The only thing you can think about is going out and performing.”
Meanwhile, Phil Keith-Roach knows how to put together a World Cup-winning scrum and in Wilson and Thomas he believes England have found an important cornerstone.
“You need two guys competing for every position and in a way you don’t really want to mind who is playing – you don’t want a gap between them,” he said.
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Main image courtesy of England Rugby via YouTube, with thanks.
