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Zach Mercer has broken silence on his England World Cup rejection
By Liam Heagney
Unwanted England hopeful Zach Mercer has broken his silence on his Rugby World Cup rejection by Steve Borthwick. Following a maiden season in France that ended with the No8 winning the Top 14 title with Montpellier and being voted the league’s player of the year, the promptings of then-England boss Eddie Jones last summer played its part in convincing the now 26-year-old that he had a chance to carve out a Test career provided he signed for a Gallagher Premiership club at the end of his two-year cross-Channel stay.
This the twice-capped player did, agreeing to a four-year deal to join Gloucester for the 2023/24 season in the hope that it would see him return to France late next month as part of the England World Cup squad.
However, Jones was sacked as Test team boss last December and although his successor Borthwick named Mercer in his squads for the three initial June training weeks at Pennyhill, Brighton and Lensbury, he was omitted from the 41-strong selection chosen on June 30 to compete for a place in the squad of 33 that will be unveiled on August 7.
That decision left Mercer to pick up the pieces at Gloucester pre-season and he has now shared his thoughts for the first time about no longer being part of the England set-up ahead of their opening Summer Nations Series match away to Wales on August 5.
After becoming a first-time father last weekend following the birth of daughter Iris, Mercer insightfully spoke with The Times about his England setback, explaining what was said to him by head coach Borthwick and how he has taken that rejection.
“It was obviously extremely disappointing but I’m ready and I’ve got the aspiration to put on that England jersey again,” he said. “There were things that Steve wanted that I maybe couldn’t provide. I’m out of the picture, but I’m not just looking to the World Cup, even though it would have been amazing to return to France.
“I know I’ve got a long few years ahead of me yet. Don’t get me wrong, for 48 hours it was tough, but reality kicks in and you go, ‘Look, you’ve got a pregnant wife, a beautiful house to move into, real-life things you’ve got to sort out.’
“I play the game very differently to a lot of No 8s in England, and in the world. I’m not the stereotypical No 8 as some would say. So, I understand it if you want to play differently. Obviously, the back row is really competitive, so I knew I was never guaranteed. Steve wanted to go down a different route with how he wanted the back row to play and who he wanted.
“I’m not sitting and waiting as it would drive me insane. If I get a call from Steve, I get a call from Steve. There was no bad blood left there at all. It’s not written off, not at all. You want to play in World Cups, but at the forefront is my little baby girl, my wife, and Gloucester.”
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Warren, if you think you should stay on coaching Wales, you are beyond deluded. If you love Wales & Welsh rugby as much as you say you do (& I'm sure you probably do) you should resign immediately so this once proud & passionate rugby nation can rebuild without you. How many of your players will make the British & Irish Lions squad.?
It's time to walk the plank.!
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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