England want a Skelton or Meafou type – Rusi Tuima is an intriguing project player
The TelegraphA streamlined squad of 19 for this first England training camp suggests that most of Steve Borthwick’s summer tour party will come from the four clubs who have qualified for the Premiership play-offs. Still, the group assembling at Pennyhill Park combines players likely to make the trip – George Martin and Henry Slade, for instance – among a scattering of future prospects. Rusi Tuima would appear to fall into the latter category as an especially intriguing project for Borthwick and his coaches. Over recent years, as Will Skelton has written his legend at La Rochelle, the France national side has been stockpiling a certain type of second row; bulky boppers who scrummage behind the tighthead prop, add their brawn to mauls and batter bodies on the gain-line and at the breakdown.
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