Fight to the death will bring best out of Billy Twelvetrees

Billy Twelvetrees insists he is excited rather than daunted by the battle raging around England’s coveted No.12 jersey as the clock ticks down on Stuart Lancaster‘s final selection.
With under two months remaining until the head coach must decide who will fill his problem midfield places, Gloucester‘s Twelvetrees is locked in a dog-eat-dog fight to the death, with no fewer than eight viable candidates to fill the inside-centre jersey.
Opposing Twelvetrees directly are Luther Burrell, Kyle Eastmond and hard-hitting Brad Barritt, while Owen Farrell, Danny Cipriani, ex-Rugby Leaguer Sam Burgess and the versatile Henry Slade could all come into the equation during August’s warm-up games.
Competition is red hot, just like the recent weather, but Twelvetrees takes it all in his elegant stride, telling The Rugby Paper: “It’s really exciting for me. You see these guys every week in the Premiership so you understand what the competition is about.
“Nobody eyes each other up or down wishing bad on anyone else, you just want everybody to show the very best of themselves and then replicate or even better it. It’s a very healthy, competitive environment with England and it’s one I really relish.
“It’s not always great for those individuals fighting for it because you know how well you need to train and play, but to test yourself against the best around you – and there are many potential No.12s in this squad – is a great thing for England rugby.”
Twelvetrees, 26, is a seasoned figure around England squads, having earned the first of his 20 caps against Scotland at Twickenham in February 2013.
But an injury sustained on Gloucester duty resulted in a truncated tour of New Zealand last summer, placing him on the international back foot in 2014-15.
“It was a difficult year with England,” Twelvetrees admits. “If I look back at the tour, I came back from injury and then got dropped for the last Test, so that was tough to take.
“My early season form for Gloucester didn’t help as we got used to new players and coaching staff, but every opportunity with England I’ve been grateful for and I was pleased to come back in for the two November wins over Samoa and Australia.
“The Six Nations involved sitting on the bench but I felt like I had positive involvements in all my four appearances and I feel comfortable in the environment. There’s great cohesion around the squad and a positive way of playing, which is very enjoyable.
“Everyone’s pushing each other along and you’ve got to drive yourself hard because the thought of being in a World Cup squad is the be-all and end-all really.”
Were the affable Twelvetrees to make the final cut, it would complete an unlikely rise for a man who rebuilt his career at National One outfit Bedford in 2008-9 after seemingly being thrown on the scrapheap after a spell with Leicester’s academy.
Twelvetrees eventually returned to Welford Road to make his Premiership name, but still feels a debt of gratitude to Bedford and their boss Mike Rayer.
“It would be massive to complete the journey from Bedford to the World Cup,” Twelvetrees said.
“They had a player in my first year there called Liam Roberts, who asked me what I wanted to do in the game after Bedford? I said I’d be happy just to get a new contract in the Championship and it never entered my head I might one day play for England.
“But every step I’ve taken since then has been enjoyable and you just want to relish these opportunities and take what positives you can from them.
“Whether it’s been at Bedford, Leicester, Gloucester or England, you just try to learn off guys around you, but I still look back on my time at Bedford fondly. In fact, I still see their chairman, Geoff Irvine, at various RFU functions and it’s nice to keep in touch.
“Mike Rayer’s been down to England training at Pennyhill Park a few times to watch us and I’ve got Nick Walshe coaching me at Gloucester now, who was a great help to me as our scrum-half at Bedford, so it’s great to see those guys are doing okay.
“It was such a good, traditional rugby club with really good core values and culture, so I loved every minute of it, whether it was losing by 50 points at Doncaster or winning by 50 at home, and I’ll look back on those experiences as a big part of my career.”
Twelvetrees captained Gloucester to European Challenge Cup success last season – a responsibility he is keen to take on again regardless of his England fate.
He explained: “I absolutely loved it and there’s no better feeling than captaining a side, winning games and leading the boys out at Kingsholm.
“It was a lot of responsibility with trying to nail down my England place on top, but I never thought of it as being that onerous. Luckily, the club have some really experienced guys who helped me out along the way and gave me their opinions.
“The likes of James Hook, Greig Laidlaw, Richard Hibbard and John Afoa have been round the block and understand what you must do to be a winning side. That made the job easier and built the squad a lot closer together as the season went on.”
Twelvetrees concedes Gloucester league campaign was a mixed bag, but is confident the squad can build on a disappointing ninth place Premiership finish.
He added: “With a load of new players and coaches we knew the cohesion wouldn’t be there early on. It maybe took a little longer than we thought, but we worked hard for each other and wanted to be difficult to beat, which typified our core values.
“We stepped things up after New Year and although domestically we let ourselves down, lifting the Challenge Cup was really big. To win nine games and go undefeated in that competition was huge and it’s given us massive belief about what we can do.
“We feel we can kick-on now and that is the aim next season.”
NEALE HARVEY