Tomorrow, England take on the All Blacks at Twickenham. In Rooted, a trendy vegan cafe in Bath, hooker Tom Dunn, right lughole held together with stitches (standard), shared his thoughts with Orchard Financial Advisers on four of his teammates who will line up against the men in black.
First up was Guy Pepper, who Dunn describes as “a massive ball of energy, intensity and physicality” — and someone whose “work rate is class”.
Dunn said Bath teammate, Pepper, “can jackal, hits hard, carries really hard and has got a massive willingness to do it, which I think is really important in rugby. He wants as many contacts as he can in the game”.
He adds many overlook Pepper’s line-out presence: “People also don’t know that Pepper’s line-out is brilliant. He’s a very good line-out operator. He jumps really well, he mauls really well and the scary thing with Guy is that he’s still so young.
“He’s still only 22 or 23 so I think he’s got massive potential to be one of the biggest names in the sport.”
As for Sam Underhill, simples. Dunn says he is quite simply one of the best tacklers in the game due to his timing.
He said: “The timing of his tackles is what makes him so different. He’s not the biggest man, and though he’s really strong, he’s not the strongest man, but his ability to read the game and to hit people man and ball is second to none.
“Sam is also underrated in attack. His attacking lines and his timing onto the ball are superb, and he does a lot of work off the ball, such as his decoy lines in the back line, which you won’t always see but it’s a secret strength he’s got.”
Next up, Dunn describes rampaging Bath centre, Ollie Lawrence, as special. End of.
He said: “He’s one of those rare breeds where he’s got so much talent but he also works extremely hard.
“You can see that in his game, in the way he carries so physically, the way he’s so quick around on the outside break, but also in the way he reads the game, that’s where he works so hard.
“His knowledge of defence, his knowledge of attack and the prep he does in the week, he’s a pretty special rugby player.”
As for Bath captain, Ben Spencer, Dunn says the nine is a player who leads by example but whose attacking game is often underrated: “He’s obviously an extremely good kicker, he’s an extremely good game manager and, leadership-wise, he is superb.
“He leads by example, he’s very diligent in his prep, very diligent in his recovery and ultimately he’s a good human as well. His leadership, now that goes a long way. People are willing to look him in the eye and do things for him.
“His attack is often what he’s criticised for but I think it’s exceptional. His support play at Bath, you always see him on the inside. He’s always the guy who scores the try at the end but doesn’t make the line break. He facilitates and reads the game really well.”
Photo by Randy Tarampi on Unsplash
