Anthony Watson gets in good Nick for World Cup

Anthony Watson admits he dreams of playing for England in the 2015 World Cup – but if he does so he knows who to thank.
The 19-year-old has revealed that his recent England call-up may never have come were it not for help from an unlikely source – his Bath and England rival Nick Abendanon.
Watson and Abendanon are jostling for the 15 shirt at The Rec, but Watson says that the one-on-one training and advice that Abendanon has provided has made all the difference.
The twice-capped Abendanon was sidelined for the start of the season following surgery to his shoulder and toe, but that didn’t stop him from taking Watson under his wing and helping him settle following the youngster’s move from London Irish.
And when Watson spilt a couple of high balls in pre-season and found himself out of position on occasion, it was Abendanon who gave him some pointers.
“I wasn’t too happy with my performances in pre-season,” Watson told The Rugby Paper. “I worked on a lot of positional stuff with (head coach) Mike Ford and Nick helped me with that too, despite being injured.
“It was amazing for Nick to do that off his own bat and shows the team mentality that there is here at Bath.
“It’s great as a young player to have a senior player like Nick with so much experience helping me out.
“I did a lot of work and I’ve really enjoyed my start to the season. I’m loving it at Bath – it’s been a dream start at the club.”
Watson, who won the Junior World Championships with England U20s over the summer,  spent Mondays and Tuesdays with England for  two weeks, as head coach Stuart Lancaster gave him a glimpse of life with the senior team.
“Training with the England squad was a bit surreal at first,” said Watson. “The first couple of days weren’t easy as I didn’t really know a lot of guys. But I settled in pretty nicely last week.
“Stuart said he wanted to give me a taste of that environment, like he did with Joe Launchbury. I absolutely loved it.
“I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a dream of playing for England in the 2015 World Cup. But a lot of stuff is going to happen between now and then. I’ve got to take each week separately.
“I’m just going to be concentrating on playing for Bath. I’m not going to think about anything else, I don’t want to think too far into the future.
“I need to work hard on my game at my club, and Bath is the perfect place to do that. I’ve just got to keep my head down and the coaches here will make my job easier by making sure I do that.”
TOM BRADSHAW