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'I'm a late developer... I was 100 kilos coming out of the under-20s'
By PA
Jamie Hodgson feels he is ready to make his mark in the Edinburgh team after seizing his opportunity to step up a level.
The 22-year-old lock was called up from the Scottish Rugby Academy to train with Richard Cockerill’s side in the summer of 2018 because they were short of second-row forwards for training.
He impressed enough to be offered a deal and is currently on a partnership contract from Watsonians.
Hodgson got a run in the team while Cockerill was without up to 23 players during the autumn internationals but he has established himself enough to start in the recent European win over Sale.
Ahead of Saturday’s Guinness PRO14 derby against Glasgow, Hodgson said: “I’m a late developer who has worked hard and I’ve still got lots of ways to improve.
“When I first got a crack due to injuries I was probably the last one standing and was about 100 kilos dripping wet. I was just trying to fill a jersey and do a job.
“With the run of games now there’s a lot more confidence. I want to make my mark on the pitch now rather than just fill a position on the team sheet.
“I feel I’m improving as well and finding my feet. The Sale game was a big step up and a big challenge to play one of the top teams in the Premiership with a lot of physical guys, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
“I’ve always been a good rugby player and had the skills, and moving from under-20s into the pro environment it’s just that physical ability.
“I was 100 kilos coming out of the under-20s and worked extremely hard with the strength and conditioning guys here.
“I’ve a lot to thank them for, just to put on some size and fill out a bit has had a massive impact.”
Hodgson is looking forward to testing himself against some familiar faces at BT Murrayfield.
“It’s an exciting one,” he said. “Everyone knows everyone, especially the Scotland guys, but I know guys from the 20s and guys I even played against at school.
“It’s always exciting to play your rivals and guys you’ve grown up with. The level of detail you go into, the set-piece and stuff, that goes up because you all know each other so well.”
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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