'I need to be physical as a 12, that's one of the things I want to improve'
Nick Tompkins has no intention of getting caught up in inevitable hype that will accompany the build-up towards Wales’ Guinness Six Nations showdown with England at Twickenham later this month.
For Saracens centre Tompkins that should mean opposing a number of his club colleagues – players like Maro Itoje, Max Malins and Jamie George – as the tournament reaches its halfway point.
“I know how personal it is in terms of the history of the rivalry and stuff, and I love that,” he said.
“For me, I work better when I am level-headed. I don’t want to get too involved in that emotional side because I feel sometimes it can waste energy.
“I will look forward to playing some of the Saracens boys, and I will definitely want to give them a couple! But it is not something I will want to thrive my energy massively from.”
Tompkins, an England Under-20 international who qualifies for Wales through his grandmother, finds himself in a fiercely-competitive midfield area.
But fine displays against Ireland and Scotland have arguably put him top of a pile that also features Jonathan Davies, Owen Watkin and a fit-again Uilisi Halaholo, with wing Josh Adams also an option there for Wales head coach Wayne Pivac.
“The competition is there. That’s good, it is there and alive,” added Tompkins, who has won 18 caps.
“We all have to step up and take the lead and show what we can do. I want to be in the starting 12 or 13 – that is my personal goal – but there are other lads as well, brilliant players, who also want the same.
“We will help each other through it. Whoever starts will get the backing of everybody, and that’s the good thing. But we will all be competing hard for it.
“I need to be physical as a 12, and that is one of the things I want to improve and show the coaching staff and players. It is an all-round game. You need to be physical to win this tournament.”
Wales head to Twickenham – a ground where they last won a Six Nations fixture in 2012 – on Saturday week having put themselves back in title contention following victory over Scotland, which came seven days after a heavy defeat against Ireland.
Unbeaten Six Nations leaders France then follow in Cardiff a fortnight later, so Wales have some huge challenges ahead, but they are at least in the mix again.
“After the Ireland game we had to have a long look at ourselves,” Tompkins said.
“We wanted to give an answer (against Scotland) for us and everybody out there. A lot were writing us off, so I am just proud the boys put in a shift in defence and we fronted up a bit and our attack was a bit better.
“It was a good improvement all-round, but we can do much better. If we keep steadily improving, hopefully when it comes to England we will be hitting the right strides.”
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Who got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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