Neil Back

Impressed by youth

Fri Oct 16 12:28PM

There were some surprise results in the opening round of the Heineken Cup during which a number of young England players caught my eye.

London Irish's victory in Leinster may not have produced any tries but it was enthralling none the less. It was a high pressure game and Ryan Lamb came on and took his opportunities very well to win the game for the Exiles.

Lamb looks to have made decent progress since leaving Gloucester and is clearly being looked after by the Exiles. They look after the fly-half in defence by putting him at number eight on opposition ball, and overall he seems to be responding well to his new environment.

The Leinster-Irish game could have gone either way and was a prime example of how difficult it is to predict games in the Heineken Cup.

Munster's defeat at Northampton was also a bit of a shock, and there were a number of stand-out performances from young Saints players.

Shane Geraghty was the difference between the sides when Leeds Carnegie played Northampton and it was the same against Munster. He is a very skilful player and I'd be surprised if he does not get a start for England next month.

Another player who stood out was Courtney Lawes (pictured), the young Saints lock. Lawes had nothing to lose playing against Munster's Ireland and Lions second rows Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan and he rose to the occasion superbly.

It takes five years of elite conditioning to fully maximise a player's strength, so I imagine 20-year-old Lawes can still develop in this area.

It's not like the old days when the likes of a young Jason Leonard or Martin Johnson could walk into the England team. Nowadays you need to be much more physically developed.

That said, I have always believed that if you are good enough then you are old enough so maybe we will see Lawes progress to the England set up in the near future.

Already he is tall, powerful and quick and his performance against Munster further built on his reputation.

But he has been exposed now as a very good player so teams will start to prepare for him, and that's a challenge he will have to be ready for. Your first season or two in the top flight can often be the easiest because the opposition don't know you so well. That is no longer the case for Lawes.

Leicester's comeback to snatch a draw against the Ospreys also threw up another player for the future in the wonderfully-named Billy Twelvetress.

I remember Billy from when I was at the Tigers and he was a very good prospect then.

He was a late addition to the Tigers side for the Ospreys game after several players had to pull out, but it was clear he had already picked up a great deal by training week-in, week-out with quality players at the club.

Billy was also loaned out to Bedford and that spell appears also to have done him some good. It was an excellent effort from the centre, and an excellent effort for the Tigers to battle back from 14 points down.

But I think Leicester will also see the draw as points lost. Ospreys will no doubt be angry they did not hang on to their lead, but I bet if you'd asked them before the game they would have settled for two points.

The trick to making progress in the Heineken Cup is to win all your home games and then try to nick an away win, or at least pick up points on the road.

The Ospreys did just that and if they can get a win at home against Clermont this weekend they will be sitting pretty in their group.

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