ENGLAND ARE ready to deploy a “special talent” Henry Arundell, by bringing the dynamic wing off the bench in their Six Nations clash at Twickenham on Sunday.

Arundell missed the November international programme with an ankle injury that has restricted him to just 30 minutes of rugby with Premiership side London Irish.

But the 20-year-old, whose ability to score stunning solo tries saw him compared to 2003 World Cup winner Jason Robinson by England captain Owen Farrell earlier this week, is ready to add to the three caps he won against Australia in July.

“Henry’s special, so special, and I’ve love watching him train,” England attack coach Nick Evans told reporters on Saturday.

“He reacts on instinct,” the former All Blacks fly-half added. “When he gets the opportunity to come in it’s all about getting him into space and creating as many one-on-ones for him as possible. The one-v-one is something he works really hard on. It’s a super strength of his.

“Henry is like all quality players. They’re probably uncoachable in terms of how they feel the game and the way they react to certain situations.

“Most importantly, we want to give him confidence to go out there and show what he does at club level and what he’s about.

“Hopefully, he will get an opportunity against Italy and we will try to give him the ball as much as we can.”

England have dismantled their midfield partnership of Marcus Smith and Farrell as they look to bounce back from a Calcutta Cup defeat by Scotland in last week’s tournament opener, head coach Steve Borthwick’s first game in charge.

Farrell has been moved to fly-half in place of the now benched Smith, with the in-form Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade paired together in the centres for the first time by England.

Evans, on secondment to England from Harlequins, where he coaches Smith, said the youngster could yet return to start alongside Farrell in an international.

“There are certain scenarios where they can definitely play together but this time we’ve decided to go with a different structure and system.

“Ollie gives us a real focal point in terms of a ball carrier. Henry gives us a dual kicking threat. He is also a really good communicator.”

Up front, England have recalled back-row Jack Willis. In the corresponding fixture two years, played behind closed doors because of Covid-19 restrictions, Willis’ howls of anguish echoed round Twickenham after he suffered a severe knee injury following an illegal ‘crocodile roll’ clear-out by Italy’s Sebastian Negri.

Willis spent a year on the sidelines and he suffered more disruption to his career this season when club side Wasps were kicked out of the Premiership following a financial collapse.

Willis, however, joined French side Toulouse, with England relaxing their rule on not selecting overseas-based players because of the circumstances.

“What’s really impressed me is how he’s handled the whole scenario,” said Borthwick of Willis.

He added: “This is a guy who is driven, I mean really driven.”

– © AFP 2023