'I know his mum is scared because he does look young'
The England autumn Test window will draw to a close with this Sunday's Nations Cup final versus France and with young Wasps out-half Jacob Umaga already released back to his club, Mike Umaga has revealed how Jacob's mother is relieved he has been left waiting by Eddie Jones to earn his first cap.
The 22-year-old emerged as a serious England prospect during Wasps' fantastic run to the final of the 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership, a showpiece match against Exeter in which Umaga scored an excellent try at Twickenham.
However, despite being called into numerous training camps, the curtain will fall on England's block of five autumn games without Umaga getting the chance to make his Test level debut. That, though, won't be of major disappointment just now in the Umaga household.
Appearing on the latest RugbyPass Offload show, Mike Umaga, the brother of famed ex-All Blacks skipper Tana, admitted his son's 91kg stature has his mother anxious about the step-up to playing out-half at Test level.
"I have got a young son, I dreamed of him wearing a black jersey. He's possibly going to wear a white one," said Umaga, who played a number of seasons in the Premiership with Rotherham.
"He's enjoying it, he's learning loads. I guess that is all you can want for your kids, enjoying the experience. He is around some world-class rugby players. I know his mum is scared because he does look young. I'm not sure he is totally filled out yet. I don't know if she'd be too happy if he does get a cap... (but) he has definitely got enough speed to get himself out of trouble, something I never had."
Umaga added that time is very much on his son's side to eventually made the Test grade and represent England. "It's more the learning," he said about his son's role in recent camps which ended on Wednesday when he returned to Wasps.
"If you look at how Eddie has selected the squad, other than Georgia there was really no opportunity for him to play. He was in camp this week and it's definitely about the learning because Wasps play totally different from how England play. He does say that he does spend a lot of time kicking. You certainly learn a lot about yourself."
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Lots of truth about the Boks, but they also have much to be humble about. And in their case complacency is the common prelude to the fall.
NZ, Australia, England, Ireland, and France are all timing their campaigns for RWC 2027, and Argentina, Scotland and Wales will be much improved. Rassie will keep building and evolving things, but he knows that it does not take much to derail any team on any given day.
It will be fun to watch.
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Get Kiss, Larkham or McKellar in to coach Wales when Gatland gets bombed. A stint in Wales worked for the two great coaches of the All Blacks!
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