Sam Underhill said he is unruffled by the expectation to solve England’s perennial problem at openside flanker as he targets a first cap on the tour of Argentina.
Underhill started Sunday’s uncapped match against the Barbarians at No7 and made some impressive tackles before he was withdrawn towards the end of the first half with a shoulder injury.
The 20-year-old, who joins Bath from the Ospreys over the summer, is a specialist No7 in the mould of Sam Warburton, David Pocock or Neil Back, England’s most recent No7 of that type.
With James Haskell, who is so far Eddie Jones’s go-to man at openside, away with the British & Irish Lions and Tom Wood omitted from the squad and suspended, Underhill is likely to make his first Test appearance against the Pumas.
“I think there’s an expectation when you wear the shirt regardless of what number is on your back. I think the back row here is really good, really competitive,” said the former England Under-18 captain, who left Gloucester to study economics in Cardiff before he was picked up by the Ospreys.
“Even with boys away, I think England have a really good depth of talent in the back row. If you look at the quality of players in the Premiership I don’t think we are hard done by when it comes to talent at all. It is pretty exciting but you need competition to get the best out of players.
“It is pretty exciting you have two 18-year-olds [Tom and Ben Curry] pushing pretty hard for the seven shirt and you have got other guys with different ages and experiences. Hopefully, you get something good out of it.”
Openside sevens are often gauged by their statistics. Pocock’s performances for Australia are often measured by the number of turnovers he wins but Underhill is not interested in numbers – somewhat surprising considering he has been studying economics. “I actually hate maths – I realised that about halfway through second year,” he said.
“Economics interests me – stats do not, so I enjoy it as a social science and what it can tell us about the way people behave – the way the world works. But I have put that on hold for part of the year – hopefully I am going to pick it up at Bath. No books [on tour] is a bit of a relief. I have gone from having six exams to none.
“I try not to get too bogged down with stats. There is more to the game of rugby than breaking it down to numbers – it does it a bit of an injustice. You look at how clinical you are and how accurate you are at what you are doing. That is the biggest thing for us, looking at what you are doing well and what you can improve.”
Jones has been impressed by Underhill both on and off the field since the flanker joined England following the Ospreys’ Pro12 semi-final defeat against Munster. His decision to move to Wales led the England head coach to say: “Any kid who goes off to Wales, fights his way and gets into the Ospreys, has got something about him.”
Throughout his time at the Ospreys Underhill has been in touch with Richard Hill, a World Cup winner in 2003, now England’s team manager and mentor to the Bath-bound flanker.
“He has been an England contact for me since I left Gloucester before that and when I left he gave me a hand with going over my games and helping me keep developing,” Underhill said. “He has been pretty helpful over the years.
“You can be the top tackler and it doesn’t necessarily mean you are the most influential guy in the game. Same with breakdowns – you can be the most involved person but it doesn’t mean your involvements are better. Hilly was pretty good at picking his moments, wasn’t he?”
The Wasps hooker Tommy Taylor and the Worcester prop Nick Schonert have been ruled out of the tour of Argentina. Taylor picked up a knee ligament injury in training while Schonert has a hand ligament injury that required surgery. Worcester’s Jack Singleton has replaced Taylor while Bristol’s Jamal Ford-Robinson will come in for Schonert.
