Nick Cain talks to Leicester’s Tom croft about his double challenge of Premiership final and Lions tour

Tom Croft has an attribute that few international forwards possess, including those back rowers alongside him in the 2013 Lions squad: The pace to scare the pants off most backs, including the fleet-footed Aussie brat-pack the best of  the British & Irish will soon confront.
The Leicester blindside flanker also has a couple of items among his personal rugby trophies that no other current England pack member possesses – three Lions Test caps, including two tries on his Test debut.
The fact he is England’s sole surviving Test Lion four years after making such a telling impact in the first and second Tests of the 2009 South Africa tour, is a sobering statistic.
So is the level of competition he now faces to get in the Test side, with Dan Lydiate, Sean O’Brien, and possibly even tour captain Sam Warburton, in contention for the fabled Lions No.6 jersey.
That Croft, 27, remains the English forward most likely to force his way into Test contention again in 2013, hitting the high gears at exactly the right time to catch the eye of the Lions head coach, Warren Gatland, is a testament to his enduring talent – and to his determination to fight back from a career-threatening neck injury sustained 13 months ago.
I have seen Croft twice over the last eight days and both times he cut an impressive figure. On the pitch he demonstrated that he means business with a command performance in last weekend’s emphatic Premiership semi-final victory over Harlequins at Welford Road.
The lean 6ft 6ins blindside has that knack shared by world-class players of being in the right place at the right time to make those crucial plays and interventions that turn big matches.
In the first half it was reflected in a try-saving tackle to deny Danny Care as he looked destined to score down the Tigers blindside. Then, after the break, Croft turned defence into attack brilliantly by switching on the afterburners and scoring from 50 metres, leaving Harlequins defenders looking as if they were wading through treacle. He was on duty again 36 hours later when the Lions players made their first media appearance at Syon House, the Duke of Northumberland’s pile in south-west London.
He was assured, relaxed, and answered the questions put to him with the sort of measured confidence that makes you wonder why neither Martin Johnson nor Stuart Lancaster, his successor as England boss, have given him the Red Rose captaincy.
This was something that Peter Winterbottom, the former Lions and England openside legend, flagged as Johnson’s best option on the front page of The Rugby Paper some three years ago. Among other key credentials cited by Winterbottom was that Croft would be one of the first names on the team sheet in terms of pure playing ability.
Apart from his devastating credentials as a broken-field strike runner, the Leicester man is one of the best lineout forwards in the game. His athleticism means he gets into the air incredibly quickly – but that is only part of the trick. The other element is the dexterity and the accuracy of his deflections, with his party piece a one-handed airborne take and delivery which displays handling skills normally confined to the pro basketball arena.
However, Winterbottom’s view is that Croft was pushed back into the England line up prematurely following the severity of his injury. He argues that Croft was not as his best when England slumped to defeat in Cardiff at the end of the Six Nations, and that he is only now getting into full stride.
“If you consider the injury he has come back from, it was always going to take him time to find his confidence and form. That’s why he struggled against Wales, although that sort of tight battering is not really his game. But he is really hitting form at the right time, and I think he will have a great tour.”
Nevertheless, Winterbottom believes that the strength of the back row options available to Gatland means that no one has a passport into the Test back row.
“Whether he makes the Test team will depend not just on the balance of the back row, but the back five as a whole. If there are lots of big carriers to get the Lions over the gain-line then having a runner of Croft’s ability on the hard grounds – as well as a great lineout option – could make it his kind of tour.”
Winterbottom says that the rangy Leicester man has another huge advantage over most of his rivals.
“He’s had so much time off that he will be pretty fresh for what will be an arduous tour. That was also the case in 2001 when Martin Corry was left out of the initial tour party but then came in as a replacement. He was a revelation, and a big part of it was that he was fresh and came out firing.”
Winterbottom adds, “Tom Croft at his best will get into the Test side. Lydiate is a very solid player, a grafter, but I’m not quite sure why Gatland has taken three Welsh flankers, with Warburton and Justin Tipuric also there. Croft brings something different, and if he has enough heavy carriers to make the hard yards then Croft can exploit space and make a real impact. Not many can run like him.”

Dick Best is another looking forward to seeing Croft state his case in Australia, although he believes that it might be as an impact player off the bench.
The former England and 1993 Lions forwards coach says, “I can see a Test back row of Warburton and Tipuric on the flanks, and Jamie Heaslip at No.8. But Croft is coming into form, and he has the sort of gas that makes it look easy if he is in the right position.
“He will be a sensation if he gets that freedom. He’s been out for a long time, but he’s clearly a quality player who raises his game to the top level.”
Best says that Saturday’s Leicester v Northampton Premiership final battle between Croft and Tom Wood, the England tour captain to Argentina and his chief rival for the No.6 shirt, could be worth the admission money alone.
“Croft versus Wood in the Premiership final is a fascinating prospect. Croft’s tightened up his game, he’s not as loose as a goose, and he’s very hard-working.”
Croft is crystal clear about his own priorities, and it starts with Leicester regaining the Premiership title in the East Midlands showdown.
“A local derby for the final is exactly what we wanted. It  is not about having one eye on this (Cup final) and one eye on the Lions – the Lions is a huge thing in the back of the boys’ minds at the club but it is at the back of their minds and it has to stay there until the end of that game. Then you can flick that switch and look forward to getting on the plane.”
Asked whether he expects the Tigers to smash seven shades out of each other in training ahead of playing the Saints – just as they did when they demolished Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens a few weeks ago – Croft says he expects more of the same.
“Yes. Last time we played Saints we had a very tasty Tuesday session so with it being Saints again I am sure it will be something similar.”

He says that Leicester are wary of making any assumptions about Northampton, and have to fix some loose fittings before the final.
“We have some issues to address at the club. We will look at the games we have played recently, look at the game when we played them at their place and work out a way to deal with it.
“We do need to tighten a few things up in the scrum and the set piece. It is a huge game and we have got to be 100 per cent for the whole game. There were areas in the game against Quins in the first half where we weren’t where we should be… it is another one-off game and we have lost the last two of these games so it is about time we won one.”
It is also about time the Lions won again in the Southern Hemisphere.  What thrust Croft into the Lions limelight in 2009 was his versatility and adaptability, especially the nous he showed in latching onto Sir Ian McGeechan’s directive to do less standing out wide, as he did regularly with Leicester and England.
He was told instead that the Lions wanted him to up his work rate around rucks, mauls and support play in the middle of the field, and his response made him an almost instant success.
Croft expects a similar tactical approach to 2009 from Gatland, and says that with his neck problems sorted out, as well as having added a few kilos of muscle in rehab, he is better placed than ever to deliver.
“The neck is probably the best bit about me. It is the other parts of my body that hurt after every game. My neck is all reinforced with bars and poles and all that sort of thing, so that is fine.
“I dropped five kilos after the operation so went to 99kg, and then went up to about 108kg. It is easy putting weight on when you are not playing, but I am happy where I am.”
Croft adds smilingly about Richard Cockerill’s backhanded compliment that with the extra weight he now looks like a rugby player:
“That was probably the biggest compliment he has ever paid me. I found out after being picked for the Lions that he was thinking of canning me from the club when I was growing up because I was too skinny. He has got problems with my weight because he is a bit chunky.”
As for having to adapt to different playing styles between Leicester and the Lions, Croft is unfazed.
“Gats will outline the way he wants us to play. Back in 2009 it was a very simple sort of structure. It was get round the corner, carry and go hard, which was vastly different to the style I played at Leicester. There I can rest on the wing quite a bit – and I doubt I will get that opportunity if I play in Australia.
“You have got to pull a side together very, very quickly. That first game against the Baa-Baas in Hong Kong, you haven’t got the luxury of having camps and training weeks prior to the game as a full squad. So, it has got to be fairly simple so the boys can pick it up quickly and you can get an identity as quickly as possible.”
However, what really appeals to Croft is the hard Aussie surfaces.
“It will be good playing on hard pitches – I don’t always go well on boggy pitches, so if it was New Zealand or a wet South Africa it may be a different story. I am looking forward to it. I have played out there with England and it is a quicker game. It is going to be quick, it is going to be entertaining and it should suit the boys we have got.
“This squad is fortunate to have players who can take advantage of that all over the pitch.”
None more so than Tom Croft, the Lion with the speed to run the Wallabies down.