Watch out Billy, Nathan Hughes wants both your shirts!
Since arriving from Auckland in 2013 to cover Vunipola’s departure to Saracens, Hughes has been tipped to play at the highest level – however questions remained over just which country.
But this week the 24-year-old told The Rugby Paper that is most definitely England whom he would like to line up for once he qualifies on residency grounds on June 26 – the day after England’s final Test in Australia.
Back in November 2014, Fiji, the land of his birth, came knocking, and again for the World Cup, but he turned the offer down saying he didn’t feel ready to make the step up to international rugby.
Meanwhile, Vunipola has gone from strength to strength since his switch to Sarries, and is now recognised as England’s premier No.8 ahead of Ben Morgan.
But in the next six months Hughes is on a mission to show new head coach Eddie Jones that he is the long-term solution at the back of the scrum.
Hughes said: “You tend to compare yourself playing week-in week-out with or against Test players in the Premiership and I think I’m ready to play international rugby.
“I can still improve my game but if the England coaches think I’m good enough and they want to pick me then I’ll put my hand up.
“It won’t be happening for a few months yet so I can only focus on playing well for Wasps and I’m really happy to have signed a new contract – it was a pretty straightforward decision to sign a new deal.
“There was some interest from other clubs to sign me but I didn’t want to jump ship. I’ve been at the club for nearly three years now and I’m pretty settled here.
“When I first arrived the club was in the bottom six but we’ve progressed a lot since and we’re moving in the right direction. We want to win silverware and that’s something I definitely wanted to be a part of.”
Growing up playing hockey, Hughes only started playing rugby at the age of 17 but, standing at 6ft 5in and smashing the scales at 19st 10lb, it didn’t take long for him to make an impact.
His ball-carrying abilities played a crucial part in him being named the Premiership forward of the season last term but Hughes reveals he has had to add more skills and that he is now taking a closer look at his defensive stats.
He said: “Attacking comes naturally to me but I’m working hard on improving my defence and reading the game better than I used to.
“I’ve got to make sure I finish tackles off and be as dominant in defence as I can be in attack. But it’s not about putting in one big hit then hiding away.
“I’ll still try to create things in attack with or without the ball. Being an option to attract the attention of two or three defenders can be as useful as me carrying the ball.
“Work rate is very important for me and reading the game better helps me last the whole game. I overdid things in the past and I would drop out of the game around the hour mark because I had tried to do too much beforehand.”
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young is delighted to have kept Hughes at the club has no doubt the forward will soon be playing Test rugby.
“There was a lot of doom and gloom when we lost Billy but Nathan’s come in and made the No.8 jersey his own,” Young told TRP. “Retention is as important as recruiting so to be able to keep a player like Nathan is very pleasing.
“The frightening thing is that he’s only going to get better and I’m sure he’s going to force himself onto the international scene.
“We had to pay the right price to keep him and there was a lot of interest from other parties but he wanted to stay and we wanted to keep him.”
NICK VERDIER
