England's finest right to the end

NOW here’s a little in-house admission. A couple of months ago, when England were playing Fiji at Twickenham in that rather disappointing and poorly attended World Cup warmup match, I was down to write a live comment piece. Something or somebody from the game that deserved further focus and scrutiny.

It was Courtney Lawes’ 100th England cap and as the great man led the team onto the field with his four children it was the obvious piece to write and I got cracking. Except as the afternoon unfolded it increasingly became less of an option. Courtney, not long back from injury, was probably the pick of the England forwards, but generally Steve Borthwick’s team were massively misfiring and towards the end the previously unthinkable loomed large. A first-ever England defeat against the Pacific Islanders.

As Fiji stretched their lead to 30-22 in those final minutes, I pulled the plug. Courtney deserved better than this. His Test rugby tribute piece could wait for another day because, as sure as night follows day, he would star for England at the World Cup no matter how the team fared generally. Instead, in record time, I hurriedly smashed out a 1,000 words in praise of Fijian rugby which had clearly become the story of the day.

But now we have the chance to return to Courtney and pay full homage to one of England’s greatest-ever servants and ambassadors in the old sense of a player who represented his nation with honour on and off the field. An individual who became a role model whether that was his intention or not. In terms of dedication to the game, fitness, his club and being an inspiration for those coming back from injury and of course as a flag bearer for black and mixed race players.