England head coach Steve Borthwick will see a new, improved Jack van Poortvliet when he pitches up at national training this week.
Scrum-half Van Poortvliet has come back from his year of hell better than ever according to his attack coach at Leicester, Peter Hewat.
Van Poortvliet had a season to forget after his World Cup and Six Nations were wrecked by a horror ankle break and just failed to make the England summer tour cut.
The 23-year-old has hit the ground running this campaign, captaining Tigers last week against Bath, and putting himself back in the Test frame.
He was one of three scrum-halves named in Borthwick’s 36-man training squad for this week’s camp alongside Harry Randall, of Bristol, and Bath’s Ben Spencer.
And Peter Hewat reckons Borthwick will see a different Van Poortvliet at Bagshot and Twickenham and a player who is taking advantage of the recent tweaks in the laws.
Hewat’s Praise
Hewat, who arrived at Leicester in the summer, said: “I have been thoroughly impressed.
“The changes in the game are definitely helping Jack with the speed of ball around the ruck and his running game.
“Watching him from afar last year and seeing him live, he is a player with some ability and his game is going to develop throughout the year, just like ours.
“A major part of his game is his running game, he has got good awareness when there is space around the ruck and we feel if we play more rugby like that we are going to be a dangerous team.”
Taking advantage of the Dupont Law removal
Van Poortvliet made the most of the changes in the Dupont Law when he scored against Bath last weekend after catching a kick from deep and with the defence unable to touch him.
Hewat added: “I love it. It was a pretty negative law to have with guys standing in midfield. But this year you can see all the attacking stats are up in the competition and that is giving teams the chance to play a lot more rugby, particularly from kick returns.”
Hewat had a turbulent summer, arriving in the Midlands only to find that the man who appointed him, Dan McKellar, was heading in the opposite direction down under.
As a former London Irish player, who helped them to the Premiership final in 2009 where they lost to the Tigers, the Australian knew what he was heading into – and it has not disappointed.
“I knew I was in for a tough day playing 10 or 15 for London Irish, it was not a good day,” said Hewat. “You knew it was going to be tough up front and you were in for a grind, particularly here in Leicester.
“I have been really impressed from the word go and the players’ buy-in to want to change the way we play. Not just in attack but in giving more responsibility to the players.
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