Pearson grabs chance to show his potential
IN terms of an on-field audition, Northampton’s Tom Pearson could not have done much more to impress watching England head coach, Steve Borthwick.
Afforded the perfect stage on which to deliver a stellar performance, the Saints star did not disappoint, producing a man-ofthe-match display as England A trounced Portugal 91-5 last Sunday at Leicester’s Welford Road.
The 24-year-old forward was seemingly everywhere, taking his impressive club form onto the international scene. He scored one of 15 tries on the day, but it was his allround game which would have been duly noted by Borthwick and his fellow coaches.
Given licence to play, Pearson and his teammates clearly revelled against the Portuguese. “I loved it,” he said. “It was good to play with loads of players who haven’t met before, let along played with each other before. The coaches gave us a lot of freedom in the week to do our own thing, play off each other, and build up those connections and combinations.”
It was a tactic that clearly worked for the A side, who were playing their first competitive fixture in eight years. “It’s always an honour to wear the Rose and play in whatever capacity,” added Pearson, who made the switch to the Saints following the demise of former club, London Irish. “All you want to do is try and impress and remember who you are playing for. Hopefully, I caught Steve’s eye and did things that he’s looking for from me.”
With the A squad buoyed by a handful of players who had been released by Borthwick ahead of last weekend’s Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland, Portugal were never a match for their rivals in this one-sided encounter.
“Some of the guys came down at the start of the week and shifted their mindset into, you know, getting involved, getting stuck in, and not being too hung up about not being involved against Scotland,” said Pearson. “Just having that next job kind of mentality and making sure they come in and contribute to the environment, that was what it was all about.”
With one Test cap already to his name, Pearson is keen to add to his tally and believes the opportunity afforded to him with the A side can help further his development when it comes to selection at the highest level.
“People talk about certain things they want to see from me, so I saw this as a bit of challenge to be honest,” he said. “Hopefully, things like the lineout work can become a strength of mine and help teams I play for.
“I think guys like Charlie Ewels, he’s a great leader and a great organiser. It’s good to have experienced team members around me, as he’s very detailed, so to play with him and learn from him was class.”
Equally, Pearson’s work out wide against Portugal was notable and the all-action forward clearly revelled in the space afforded to him. “Yeah, there’s no doubt I enjoyed doing it,” he added. “Again, that’s something different for me. The systems we were running this week were based on forwards holding the edge to try and spread them a little bit offensively.
“The reality, however, was that there were a couple of times I found myself in a bit of space and I was able to work as the extra man, which was nice. Considering we’ve only been together a matter of days, I think a real bonus of being in a programme like this is that people are gaining experience when coming into an England team set-up for the first time.”