Emma Radacanu shared her Grand Slam experiences with England’s rugby team as they prepare to take on the All Blacks.
The tennis star joined up with Steve Borthwick’s squad who are attempting to land their first victory over New Zealand since 2019.
Borthwick has backed his Bomb Squad for the Twickenham showdown, with six Lions named on the bench, including Henry Pollock and Marcus Smith.
‘She watched training today and then we did a few bits after,’ said prop Fin Baxter. ‘I think she did a bit of kicking with Marcus. Maro (Itoje) was chatting to her and we let two big dogs of their sports talk. Then it was, “Come on, Emma wants to do a lineout with you”.
‘She was very good and caught the ball. It was a weird way to meet her for the first time. But it was cool to have her in.
‘The amount of pressure that she has to go under because of how successful she is is definitely something we can all learn something.’
Emma Radacanu shared her Grand Slam experiences during a visit to the England rugby squad
The tennis star joined in on the action with the team during their training at Pennyhill Park
She posed for a picture with the players ahead of their match against New Zealand on Saturday
Meanwhile, Borthwick has tipped George Ford to become England’s future head coach after the No 10 was recalled to start against the All Blacks.
Borthwick has turned to the experience of the 103-cap fly-half, who has been selected in place of Fin Smith, with Marcus Smith selected on the bench to provide cover across the backline.
‘George is a phenomenal player,’ said Borthwick. ‘I think I’ve got on record as well saying that many years from now he’s going to be a brilliant coach.
‘I think he’s the kind of character, and has such a great understanding of the game. I wouldn’t be in any way surprised to say he’d be England head coach at some point in the future. I think he will be, if that’s where he chooses to go. Having a player and a person of that kind, understanding, calmness, leadership, I think he’s phenomenal.’
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler has also spent two days with the team, offering input on the role of substitutes as Borthwick reverted to his loaded Bomb Squad.
‘We share experiences and thoughts about what we do,’ said Borthwick. ‘There is no doubt here, this week, playing against New Zealand, the team is going to have to dig very, very deep. There’s a team that’s going to have to go into a place where there is pain and suffering, and there’s going to be this need to keep running.
Steve Borthwick has tipped George Ford to be his future successor as England head coach
Ford has been called upon as England look to land a first victory over the All Blacks since 2019
Fabian Hürzeler also spent two days with the England team as they trained at Pennyhill Park
The Brighton boss offered input on substitutes as Borthwick reverted to his Bomb Squad
‘There’s a need for this to be the most selfless team performance England have produced, because that’s how good New Zealand are. The players are going to have to give absolutely everything to themselves. I think you see a team, more and more, that plays so much with their heart. You see just how hard the team run. We need a real selfless performance and we need to be brilliant at our basics.’
With Freddie Steward returning at full-back and Tom Roebuck recovering from injury to start on the wing, England’s back-three have been preparing for an intense aerial contest.
‘What’s been really clear is that New Zealand, when they’ve played against England in the last three games, have kicked the ball a lot,’ said Borthwick. ‘Every game it’s spiked, how much they’ve kicked. The last year at Twickenham they came and the first thing we did was just go ‘We’re kicking this ball’.
‘I’m interested if they’re going to go with that strategy. Go back and look at the way they played in the two Tests we played down in New Zealand last year and see how many times they kicked the ball. Once you do that, you’ll have a clear picture of how Scott Robertson wants his team to play.’
