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Video: The uncapped hooker Austin Healey is tipping for a Lions call
By Online Editors
With Warren Gatland having scouted at The Rec on Tuesday night, Austin Healey has called on the Lions coach for South Africa in 2021 to have taken note of the performance of Bath hooker Tom Dunn, the uncapped 27-year-old who is thriving under head coach Neal Hatley, the former England assistant.
Play-off chasing Bath were left with their backs to the wall at the break against Gloucester, trailing 13-3, and the situation soon worsened as the visitors moved 20-3 ahead nearing the hour mark.
Some inspiration was badly needed and Dunn provided it, scoring two tries in five minutes and igniting a comeback that resulted in Bath winning 31-20 and jumping to second in the Gallagher Premiership with one match remaining, a trip to Saracens on October 4.
Dunn made 36 metres off 21 carries in the rain, carrying a metre further than next best in the pack Sam Underhill, while his tackle count of twelve was four better than a trio of his pack teammates.
Bath's form since the restart has been sensational and unexpected. Before the lockdown, they had won just seven of 13 matches, but they have won seven of their eight games since the mid-August resumption to give themselves every chance of making the Twickenham final for the first time since 2015.
Delighted with Dunn's contribution, Healey tweeted: "A good player and exactly the type of guy that @lionsofficial need around."
Asked about Healey's praise in his BT Sport post-game interview after being awarded man of the match, a beaming Dunn said: "Thank you."
He also spoke about Bath's post-lockdown transformation. "You're talking about the journey we're on. Covid is a journey for everyone and we came tight together.
"We have got great togetherness now and this [beating Gloucester] was the next step on that journey. We want to be at Twickenham on October 24 and we had to get five points today to do that.
"You get what you deserve and we're working really hard. I honestly think we're working harder than other teams. Hopefully, that will get us to the semi-finals."
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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