2. Tom Pearson
A name that has been in the England discussion this season, London Irish back-rower Tom Pearson is an exciting young talent and certainly one for the future. But could a late call-up into the England squad be on the cards for the 23-year-old? Well, it has been reported that London Irish Head Coach Declan Kidney was in discussion with England Head Coach Steve Borthwick, yet nothing has been definitively set in stone just now.
“What we did was, Steve called over, we had a good chat, we went through all the players that qualify for England. It would be wrong to be picking out one over the other, so it was just a good open chat. And he explained where he is, and we explained where we were, and it was just sharing where everything is really.” Declan Kidney said.
“We compared notes. And we are pretty similar notes as to what Tom is working on, Tom is very aware of those himself. And he’s like all young players, or like all players really, all players have work-ons, so he’s already on those cases. And we agreed with that when we discussed it.”
An untimely injury to an England flanker would open up an opportunity for the young Exiles star, and Borthwick may want to test the back-rowers’ international ability in during one of the World Cup Warm Up fixtures. Pearson has previously been on the fringes with England during the Eddie Jones era, but never made it onto the pitch, when he was part of the wider training group for the 2022 Guinness Six Nations. Borthwick may soon be looking at Pearson as a candidate to bolster the back-row for England’s easier Pool stage matches, and when the competition begins to take it’s toll on the starters.