As first revealed in The Rugby Paper on Sunday, Ben Morgan has chosen to represent England instead of Wales, who he would have qualified to play for on residency grounds in the coming weeks.
The 22-year-old Bristol-born No 8 said he had thought ‘long and hard’ about his decision after both England and Wales had followed the Scarlets forward’s impressive progress since he joined the West Wales region in May 2009. Morgan has appeared 42 times in a Scarlets shirt with 15 points.
In a personal statement released via his regional club, the Scarlets, Ben Morgan said: “I feel privileged and honoured that both Wales and England have been following me; and it has taken me a while to think over and discuss with my family before I came to the decision of where I’d like to focus my ambitions for the future. But I’m English, I grew up supporting England and as a youngster I always dreamt of playing for England one day. Ultimately, if given the opportunity at international level, I want to try and take things forward with my home country.”
“It’s not about where I see myself in any squad but about putting my name forward and keeping my head down and playing. If I am lucky to be named in any England squad then fantastic but if not then I will knuckle down and work hard to get myself in a position where I will be. Right now it’s about focusing on my rugby and putting my all in to my career with the Scarlets with some big league and European fixtures ahead of us this month.”
Nigel Davies, Head of Rugby at the Scarlets said: “While we’ve known interest has been shown in Ben by Wales as well as England following a run of strong and eye-catching performances for us; it’s a personal decision – and nobody can question Ben for setting his sights on the pride and dream of playing for his home country of England.
“He has progressed well, worked hard and shown great commitment and determination to take his rugby career forward and has become a big and influential part of our forwards play. We fully support him on his decision and if he makes it into the England squad in the future, he will have our complete backing as do all our current internationals when they play for their country.”
Sounds like Morgan will be in England’s squad…here’s a quote from Rowntree today:
“We’ve been looking at him for some time… looking to get him on board very quickly.”
I’m a south african in CT and I’m loving the Aviva games. Obviously in the back of my mind putting an england 15 together. But struggling, who will partner Lawes at lock, obviously line out focused player I guess? Who do you eng fans see as the next skipper, robshaw is the only one that seems like a great leader?
Off the top of my head here is my eng 15, please comment and say if its OK or if it sucks?haha
15 Foden 14 Ashton 13 Farrell 12 Twelvetrees 11 Strettle 10 Flood 9 Youngs(would have been Mr Care) 8 Waldrom 7 Saul 6 Robshaw 5 Attwood(???) 4 Lawes 3 Corbisiero 2 Hartley 1 Stevens
But what about Tuilagi, Croft, Barrit, Mike Brown etc
Would love some feedback!
Thanks
Daniel S – not too far away from my team actually to start against Scotland. Robshaw or Wood for Captain – happy witheither. Also, this team takes into consideration recent/current injuries (hence Tuilagi and Lawes on bench).
1. Corbisiero
2. Hartley
3. Cole
4. Attwood
5. Robson
6. Robshaw
7. Wood
8. Morgan
9. Youngs
10. Flood
11. Sharples
12. Barritt
13. Farrell
14. Ashton
15. Foden
16. Gray
17. Marler or Stevens
18. Lawes
19. Croft
20. Dickson
21. Tuilagi
22. Brown
1. Corbisiero
2. Hartley
3. Stevens
4. Attwood
5. Robson
(I want Lawes and Palmer but can’t)
6. Croft/Robshaw
7. Wood
8. Robshaw/Morgan
9. Youngs
10. Flood
11. Sharples
12. Barritt
13. not sure now Tuilagis gone, Trinder maybe?
14. Ashton
15. Foden
16. not sure really
17. Cole or Marler
18. Deacon
19. Croft
20. Simpson
21. Farrel
22. Brown (Don’t think hes a great bench man tho as he only covers 15)
Hi again
Real cool to see your teams, helps me learn a bit more… See you both have Sharples on left wing, have never seen him play due to we only getting certain matches here in SA…but there is a Gloucester match on this weekend so that will give me chance. Also amped to watch Trinder play, have only read about him but have not seen much.
How long is Palmer and Lawes out for? Do you guys rate Mouritz Botha the ex-pat South African? Saw he had nice impact for Saracens against Harlequins last week…
Nic Hill you say Tuilagi is gone, did see him in the last Tiger match they viewed here so was wondering, injured or whats the problem?
Twelvtrees seems pretty solid and a front foot 12, how is he rated that side? Barrit I obviously enjoy as an South African looking in ha-ha…
Mallinder said Lawes “will certainly be out for a few weeks.” so he could be back towards the start of the tournament
Tuilagi “struggling to be fit for the start of England’s Six Nations” says BBC so shouldn’t miss much of it either.
Palmer isn’t available due to being based in France, pretty sure the RFU have said no overseas players anymore. This is a massive shame as in my opinion Palmer has been our best forward over the last couple of years.
Just read Deacon is out for 4 months, I’m not a huge fan tbh but that does leave us a little thin on the ground for 2nd rowers.
Add Care into the list of “not availables” and there are quite a few missing from a match-day 22.
Ah OK, I see says the blind man, so with the Palmer things I guess thats end of Haskell as well…
Sjoe alot of stuff going on regarding team selection, almost makes me happy that my beloved drama-filled Springboks aint playing at the moment, coz I think we’ll have as many selection probs this year.
Sjoe cool guys, thanks for sharing your thoughts with me, really getting into English rugby lately, love it:-)