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How Ben Loader 'took it on the chin' at Irish and came back better
By Liam Heagney
London Irish Declan Kidney had lauded the impressive reminder that one-time England prospect Ben Loader gave to him about his talent when scoring a hat-trick a fortnight ago versus Bath in the Gallagher Premiership. With other back three players such as Henry Arundell, Will Joseph and Ollie Hassell-Collins having jumped ahead of him in the selection queue at the Exiles and with Eddie Jones’ England, the soon-to-be 24-year-old has had limited exposure in recent times.
Injuries and non-selection restricted him to just eight Gallagher Premiership appearances last season but an 80-minute try-scoring effort at the start of October was a deserved reward for Loader’s patience and he will now start again this Friday night when Irish visit Sale in the latest round of league fixtures.
“He was very positive. He took it [not playing] on the chin and said, ‘Right, I need to get better’. He did and when he got his opportunity he took it,” enthused Kidney when asked by RugbyPass what Loader was like while waiting in the wings over the past year.
“Like a lot of young players, he has grown into it and got more confident in it as well. He has had a few experiences in the England camp and all those have been good for him. They [players at Irish with England ambitions] have had a good taste for it, they have a hunger to get themselves back in but they know they can only expect that if they are performing week in and week out.
“The match against Bath was a good day for Ben, we had a fallow week last week and Friday night is a TV match. A lot of a winger’s job is what goes on in front of them. The tighthead rarely gets the headlines but sometimes it’s a tighthead’s work that allows the winger to do their job. How has Ben responded? He responded in the way that you would have wanted anybody to respond.
“He was very good. He just put his head down and said okay. No player is going to absolutely agree with you when you leave them out unless there were in a bad vein of form. He wasn’t - there was a lot of competition for places. It looked like earlier in the Bath week that he wasn’t going to do it but he trained very well and when the opportunity came up we put him in and he took it with aplomb.
“How he responded to the challenge for his place is a credit to him. That is how we talked to him, that it could make him, and it was a real positive contribution to the team on the day… What I liked about Ben is the way he responded to the challenge for his place and then also the assists that he made.
“In the first couple of minutes Bath had a really good spell on the ball, there were there for a long time and Ben had a chase back, He made a poach and that had a big influence on the game, took a bit of the steam out of Bath. To me, that was just as pivotal as some of the touch downs that he got.”
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Latest Comments
Excellent points Mz. Because of other commitments I have just watched the game.
Interesting watching it after reading all the news reports especially in the English media. I was expecting to see a game that the ABs were very lucky to win. What I saw was a game that England showed their tactical incompetence and their inability to construct any try scoring opportunities.
They can go on deluding themselves that they were unlucky to lose ( as Borthwick said post match ) but until they stop relying on rush defence and goal kicking to win I feel they're doomed to be ranked 4 or 5 in the world.
Can't wait until the weekend to see how the Wallabies go against them
Though I dare say Walter will be hoping for an England win.
Go to commentsIF SA and NZ win then its 1,2,3 SA/NZ/IRL Otherwise as you were. This is largely irrelevant beyond bragging rights.
As I have pointed out elsewhere the practical use of the Rankings is to determine the seedings bands for the RWC draw. The draw takes place early 2026 and hopefully the rankings will be taken from then.
Important to be in the top 6, the top 12. (and likely the top 4).
This is because there are now 6 groups in the RWC 2027.
If you are in top 6 you are in Seeding Band 1. That means none of the other top 6 will be in your group.
Seeding Band 2 are teams from 7-12, who will have a top 6 team but no other 7-12 team.
After England's defeat by NZ there is clear water between NZ in 3rd, France in 4th and England in 5th. England are desperate for top4, ill come back and explain why later.
Lets look at Seeding Band 1 and 6th place. If you make 6th, no top 6 team is in your group, you are top dog. If you win your group, you won't be facing a top 6 team in your 1/8th final, you will be facing a weaker team. If you fail to make 6th place you WILL have a top 6 team in your group and if you don't win your group you WILL (probably) meet a top 6 in the 1/8 final. That's massive.
Its Argentina holding 6th now. Assuming England hold 5th, then its a 4 horse race for 6th. Argentina, Scotland, Italy and ...Australia. (ranked 6,7,8,9)
Australia play the Lions in NH summer 2025 they are running out of time to get up to 6th for their own RWC. They MUST make a move now. They must beat Wales and they really must beat Scotland to gain points and take points off them. Could they surprise England or Ireland? England may be the better bet but Schmidt knows Ireland so well having masterminded their downfall in France.
Another one to watch is Italy V Argentina. Italy are ambitious and they will want to start pushing the likes of Argentina. If they win this they are still in the hunt. Well worth a watch either way.
Top4: I think the top 6 will be seeded, all the way through from the draw. If thats the case then the top 4 will be seeded to avoid each other until the semi. Good for more certainty around ticket sales etc. That's a possible reason why England want in there. You're not in there you are hitting a top 4 team in a QF. That's an extra 50:50 match you can do without and avoid by being top 4.
Lets look at what Seeding bands might look like with todays rankings:
Seeding Band 1
IRE/SA/NZ/FRA/ENG/ARG
Seeding Band 2
SCO/ITA/AUS/FIJ/WAL/GEO
Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if in top 6
Strongest pool opponent: FIJI
1/8 final opponent GEORGIA
Prognosis: advance to 1/4 and potentially beyond
Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if NOT in top 6
Strongest pool opponent: SOUTH AFRICA
1/8 final opponent NEW ZEALAND
Prognosis: You know the prognosis
I am pretty sure this is not lost on Joe Schmidt?
Keep in mind when enjoying the matches.
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