The sight of the world’s best scrum-half strutting his stuff at the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club last weekend increased the desire of Leicester’s Jack van Poortvliet to again don the white No.9 jersey this summer.
Antoine Dupont’s master class for Toulouse in their European Cup triumph over Leinster merely demonstrated to the Tigers scrum-half just what is needed to get back into Steve Borthwick’s England plans for the tour to Japan and New Zealand.
Van Poortvliet spent much of the time recovering from the devastating ankle injury suffered against Wales last summer which ended his World Cup dream watching games and wishing he was fit enough to get back out onto the field.
Focused: Leicester scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet PICTURES: Getty Images
He travelled to France to watch his team-mates face Samoa during the pool stage to cheer them on and be near the action he was so badly yearning.
Now, he has taken lessons from how the “freakish” Dupont inspired Toulouse to Champions Cup glory last Saturday even when Leinster’s renowned defence was trying to suffocate his brilliant flair and skill. Van Poortvliet, 23, told The Rugby Paper: “He’s clearly the best scrum-half in the world right now, and all of us can try and set our aspirations to emulate some of the stuff he does.
“You can’t see it as daunting, you’ve got to see it as exciting and a challenge to try to take on … see how far you can push it. He is obviously freakishly good but it’s exciting to try and test yourself and try and be somewhere near as good as him.
“The biggest thing for me watching that European final was that it was a Test match. It was basically an international game between two club teams.”
“It impressed me that even though Dupont’s general scrum-half parts of the game were made difficult for him, passing etc, he was still able to show his competitiveness.
“You saw how the best players in the world in big games step up – like the track back when Blair Kinghorn got the tackle on Dan Sheehan and Dupont got the turnover. They are big moments. The way he managed to have three or four big moments and big plays, almost put the team on his back, was the most impressive thing.
“He found a way to still step up and have a massive influence on the game and make big plays even though his usual running and passing threat from the breakdown wasn’t a massive factor. That’s something that really stood out to me.”
Van Poortvliet knows exactly what is required from him if he is to push his claims for a place on the plane to the Southern Hemisphere for the forthcoming Tests with Japan and New Zealand.
He has plenty of competition with Alex Mitchell owning the jersey right now and Bristol’s Harry Randall and Bath’s Ben Spencer keen to get their hands on it.
Van Poortvliet feels the top priority is sheer speed of both thought and actions on the field with head coach Borthwick so keen for his team to develop a fast, furious but clinical style of play heading to the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
He says: “Test matches are being played at a higher speed now than before. That is something Steve wants from his nines. The ability to play fast but understand when to take control and be in the right areas. There is definitely a big drive for speed and keeping the attack firing as we were in the Six Nations.
“We have healthy competition here with the likes of Mitch, Rands and Spencer to push each other. I haven’t played a lot of rugby. I wanted to play as well as I can with Tigers and get back in the England system. Now, if I’m lucky enough to go on tour it will make the real grind over the injury a lot better.
“I just wanted to come in and push as hard as I can this week. To train well in order to get the chance to play and improve my chances of going on the tour.
“It’s not about trying to prove to anyone else just improve my own performance. I want to put my hand up for selection.
“It’s been a tough, hard year being out for all that time was difficult but I have come in fresher than a lot of the boys. Seeing the transition the team made during the Six Nations makes it really exciting to be here.”
