The regular 18-round season of the 2024/25 Premiership campaign is done and dusted, with the top four now confirmed for the playoffs. Bath, Leicester Tigers, Sale Sharks and Bristol Bears are all heading for the semi-finals, with the Premiership trophy set to find a new cabinet in a fortnight’s time.
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However, the season does not end there for the England hopefuls, with Steve Borthwick set to lead his side out to Argentina and the United States for a three-match tour this Summer. With 12 of his top guns away on British & Irish Lions duties, the door has swung wide open for uncapped and fringe players to make their mark in the famous red rose. This past weekend saw five more hopefuls put their hands up for selection, ahead of the cross-continental trip across the Americas.
5 UNCAPPED ENGLAND HOPEFULS WHO IMPRESSED: PREMIERSHIP RUGBY ROUND 18
Josh Hodge (Exeter Chiefs)
A star of an Exeter Chiefs side that has struggled this season, Josh Hodge has constantly given the Sandy Park faithful something to celebrate even upon a defeat in Devon. The versatile outside back has taken the lead at both fullback and wing this season, yet his priority outings have come in the 15 shirt for Rob Baxter’s men. Hodge has put together an impressive strike rate of 15 tries in all competitions, with his presence rightfully earned upon the England selector’s radar.
The door opens up for Hodge following a couple of absentees, beginning with Marcus Smith’s selection for the Lions tour. Then throw in George Furbank’s turbulent season, as the Northampton man has battled back from a broken arm which greatly curtailed his momentum, and Hodge rises up the pecking order for a potential England debut.
The flyer missed out on the initial 33-man squad that met for a mini training camp earlier this month, yet another statement making performance has put him back in the conversation for the tour of Argentina and the United States. Hodge’s latest effort for Exeter saw him grab a try in the hard-fought defeat to Sale Sharks, and strike home three conversions off the tee. A dangerous multi-tool player with speed, agility and sharpshooting on his side, Hodge could well reinforce the ranks for Borthwick’s squad this Summer.
Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Sale Sharks)
Steve Borthwick will have to act swiftly, if he is to secure this dual-nationality star for representing Tonga upon the Test match stage. The Sale man is garnering quite the reputation across the Premiership, with the 22-year-old already drawing comparisons to Manu Tuilagi, given his Pacific Island heritage and crash-ball performances with the Sharks’ midfield.
Ma’asi-White was included in the brief two-day training squad earlier in the Spring, which confirmed how he was embossed upon the radar of Steve Borthwick ahead of the Summer plans. It has been a rapid rise to the international discussion for the centre, who just earlier this season was cutting his Shark teeth out on load to Caldy in the Championship. With Elliot Daly called up for the Lions tour and Ollie Lawrence still out on the injury wards following his heart-breaking Achilles tear, this could be the time for Ma’asi-White.
The midfielder put in another strong performance this past weekend, as Sale carved through Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park. Ma’asi-White scored his fifth try in Sale colours, as his tally continues to rise, as he capped off a well-taken strike move against the Devon club. With plentiful buzz around Ma’asi-White ahead of the play-offs, Borthwick would be intrigued to see how the wrecking-ball centre fares, in the high stakes matches so early in his club career.
Jack Cotgreave (Gloucester)
As Northampton Saints arrived in the West Country for their final match of the Premiership season, all eyes were focussed upon England wing Ollie Sleightholme, never mind his opposite man who went on the steal the show. A favourite son in green, black and gold, Sleightholme made his return from injury in the Champions Cup Final, with the England tour of Argentina expected to be in the young wing’s future.
The same could now well be said for Jack Cotgreave, who was in blistering form along the Kingsholm touchline this past Saturday. The 19-year-old scored his first Premiership hat-trick, as the Cherry and Whites turned the pressure up on the Saints with the young-gun at the heart of the action. A trio of tries takes Cotgreave’s tally for the season up to six, in what has been a solid first year in the famous Cherry and White of Gloucester. The Summer tour has long been a proving ground for young talents, and Borthwick could test the bolter in the deep waters of a Test match against Los Pumas or the USA.
With an assortment of Gloucester’s household names departing the club at the end of the season, it’s players like Cotgreave that have the Kingsholm faithful excited for the future. Upon a Super Saturday that featured stand out efforts from England fringe wingers Cadan Murley and Gabriel Ibitoye for their respective Harlequins and Bristol Bears, it was Cotgreave that took the headlines ahead of a possible fast-tracked trip to the international rugby stage.
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