The 20-year old centre, a product of the Warriors’ academy who had been at the club since he was 13, was looking to make his senior breakthrough having made eight appearances for the first team last season, four in the Premiership having marked his first league start with a try against Harlequins.
He has made the impact he intended, but for Gloucester, one of the club’s stand-out players in a season that started strongly but fizzled out after a debilitating succession of long term injuries.
One of them was to the England centre Mark Atkinson, which gave his namesake Seb his opportunity. He made a try scoring debut against Bristol in the Premiership Cup and, a few weeks later, started the league victory over Northampton, the first of 13 league and Champions Cup appearances in the 12 jersey.
“What happened at Worcester was a tough time for everyone involved,” said Atkinson. “I had felt comfortable there and excited about the future. Steve Diamond (the director of rugby) was very direct and I liked that because there was no ambiguity, but suddenly you were left with uncertainty.
Denne historien er fra April 23, 2023-utgaven av The Rugby Paper.
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Denne historien er fra April 23, 2023-utgaven av The Rugby Paper.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Riley: We believe we can make top four
SAM Riley is bullish about Quins prospects of stashing some silverware in the Twickenham Stoop cabinet and confirms the Londoners’ sights are fixed on all targets.
This Italian squad are good - but not quite their best side
HAVING reported on Italy since the early 1990s, I wouldn’t hesitate to nominate the current crop as the strongest all-round Azzurri squad in modern history … but I’m not sure yet whether they are the best Italy side ever.
Smith has diamonds on the soles of his shoes
FIN Smith confirmed that he is a big match player to the soles of his boots when he banged over the 50m penalty ten minutes from time which eventually wrestled the Calcutta Cup from Scotland’s grip for the first time in four years.
Wall times it perfectly to snatch it at the death
EXETER lock Dorothy Wall dotted down amid a bundle of bodies to break the deadlock in the final play and give Chiefs an end of season victory at Welford Road.
Hardy is getting back to his best
AFTER going through a challenging spell in his career, Kieran Hardy is now enjoying his rugby again and playing with a smile on his face.
Start off with the 'new' and finish with the old
I FIND it hard to understand why there are now so many breaks in the Six Nations competition as after just having a week off we now face another break extending the competition from the February 1 to March 15.
Northampton get it right this time
NORTHAMPTON put their finals day ghosts behind them to win their first Premiership U18 Academy final since 2014.
It's Sale at a canter as late scores clinch win
SALE got the better of their near-table rivals Birmingham Moseley with a decisive win under the lights at Heywood Road.
This brotherhood of mates is what keeps us together
THAT was an awesome performance from the boys. We were talking all week about putting in an 80-minute display and I definitely felt we did that.
French stars need to get on the same page
HOW will France respond in Rome after losing to England? I don’t believe that French supporters will be feeling that charitable towards their own team after their defeat at Twickenham, and will want to see the record set straight against Italy this afternoon.
