Six Nations: Jamie George not playing down title talk as England prepare for France finale
Jamie George has declared that title talk is not taboo in the England squad.
The captain has told his team-mates to embrace the slim chance of swiping Six Nations silverware, but also advised they do not dwell on it.
England face France in Lyon on Saturday night, where a bonus-point win might be enough for a first Six Nations title since 2020 — but only if Scotland beat Ireland in Dublin earlier in the day and deny the hosts any bonus points.
Hooker George admitted the tendency might be to shun the notion of chasing the title, but refused to let that be the case in his new-look England atmosphere.
“You end up ignoring it, but I always think [that’s] the elephant in the room in professional sport, sometimes you might brush things under the carpet a bit,” he said. “But why? Let’s talk about what the possibilities are, but also not allow it to distract you.
“What might happen in the Ireland-Scotland game is out of our control, but we can use the possibility of winning a trophy as motivation that we’re in the right headspace. We’ll know what is happening — you’d be lying if you said you weren’t going to be watching that game.”
George boasts three Six Nations crowns, including the 2016 Grand Slam, and second and third-place World Cup finishes, but would rank a possible title win now above all that. “In terms of achievements, winning now would be the greatest achievement of my England career so far, just because we have not won this tournament for a while,” he said.
Manu Tuilagi could be playing his last game for England off the bench, with the centre likely to move to France this summer where he would be off-limits for Test selection.
