Jamie George has urged England to draw inspiration from their cricketing counterparts by cultivating their own form of ‘Bazball’.
Steve Borthwick’s side launch a new era when they face Italy in the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday with George leading a side containing two uncapped starters and three more debutants on the bench.
George is at the helm for the first time and the Saracens hooker is stirred by the success of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum in developing a winning cricket team that plays without fear.
The style has been dubbed Bazball, referencing McCullum’s nickname, and George believes that by adopting similar principles his England can also flourish as the next World Cup cycle begins at the Stadio Olimpico.
“I’m a cricket fan so why would I not take inspiration from what Ben Stokes is doing with the England cricket team?” George said.
“You look at the influence Ben Stokes has on young players, allowing them to go out and perform the way they do, creating an environment to allow that. It’s exactly the model that we want.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be perfect, it’s never going to be perfect. But at the same time, Ben is someone who I take a huge amount of inspiration from.
“I want that connection with the fans. I want people to love coming to watch England play, for plenty of reasons – the result being one, how we play the game being another.
“Also the amount of fight and character that we show, the amount of pride and passion that we play with.
“Ben Stokes talks about being entertainers and we want to entertain people, of course we do, but we want to do it in the right way, we want to do it in the England way.
“They’ve managed to find a way to do that with Bazball so we will find our own way of doing it.”
England have lost the opening match in the previous four Six Nations and George is determined for them to end that sequence by delivering an emphatic victory over opponents they have beaten in all 30 previous meetings.
“We want to make a statement and we also want to make it very clear what this England team is about going forward. And we want to give the England fans plenty to shout about,” he said.
George knows the advice he will give to the uncapped Fraser Dingwall, Ethan Roots, Chandler Cunningham-South, Fin Smith and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso also stands for himself when he lead the side out for the first time.
“It’s going to be quite an emotional day,” he said. “I’m quite an emotional person anyway. I’ve got some family flying over – and some family who aren’t able to fly.
“The obvious statement is that it’s going to be a dream come true. I don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for moments like that.
“As ever I just want to be in the moment as much as I can and soak it all up. It’s a similar message to what I’ll be telling the guys having their first cap.
“That was the best piece of advice I got before my first cap because it goes like that (clicks fingers). The anthem… it just flies by.
“I want to really try and soak it all up, take it all in and then put in a good performance off the back of it.”
Archer brings 'fear factor' to England's T20 World Cup squad, says Curran
Jofra Archer's return will bring a "fear factor" to England's bowling attack at the T20 World Cup, believes team-mate Sam Curran.
Paceman Archer has endured an injury-hit few years, with elbow and back problems preventing him from representing England since March 2023.
However, he has been included in England's provisional squad for next month's World Cup in the United States and West Indies and could make his international return on Wednesday.
England face Pakistan in the first of four T20Is at Headingley, and Archer is expected to feature after taking part in team training on Monday.
It is hoped he might play in three of the four matches against Pakistan in order to build up fitness ahead of the World Cup, and Curran says opposition teams will be nervous about his return.
"It's incredibly exciting," Curran said on Monday. "I'm sure England fans and players are extremely buzzed to have him back. He's an addition no side can turn down.
"He's obviously got that extra pace and fear factor we can bring to the opposition as well. Hopefully his injuries are behind him now."
Kane injury doubt for England Euro 2024 squad
Harry Kane may be a doubt for England’s Euro 2024 squad as he continues to struggle with a back problem.
Gareth Southgate is due to name his preliminary squad for Euro 2024 on Tuesday, ahead of upcoming friendlies against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland.
The England captain missed the final two Bundesliga games of the season after going off towards the end of Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid.
Thomas Tuchel confirmed prior to their final match against Hoffenheim that Kane was back in England to undergo treatment.
When later asked again about the nature of the striker’s injury, Tuchel admitted that Kane had been struggling for a couple of weeks.
"In Madrid, it was borderline. We tried injections and treatments. The back has completely closed.
"It has gotten worse and kept breaking out in small, everyday movements. There's no chance he's even training."
Kane scored 36 league goals in his debut campaign for Bayern, though due to the injury, he finished five adrift of Robert Lewandowski’s single-season goal record of 41, set in 2019-20.
The final announcement of Southgate's 26-man squad will be revealed on June 7, ahead of the tournament opener against Serbia on June 16.
Edwards to defend UFC Welterweight title in rematch against second-ranked Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in Manchester
Jamaican-born British Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards now has a date and an opponent for his next title defense.
The 32-year-old will try to fend off number two-ranked Belal Muhammad in the main event at UFC 304 set for July 27 at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
Edwards will enter the fight in the midst of a 12-fight unbeaten streak while Muhammad is unbeaten in his last 10 contests.
The pair fought previously at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad on March 13, 2021 in Las Vegas. That bout ended in a no contest after an accidental eye-poke by Edwards in the second of five rounds rendered Muhammad unable to continue.
After than unfortunate fight, Edwards went on to defeat fan favorite Nate Diaz by unanimous decision in the main event at UFC 263 in Glendale, Arizona on June 12, 2021.
His next fight proved to be his crowning moment as he secured a spectacular head-kick knockout of Kamaru Usman to claim the UFC Welterweight title at UFC 278 in Salt Lake City on August 20, 2022.
Heading into that fight, Usman was on a 20-fight win streak and was the number one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. The Nigerian also had a win over Edwards back in 2015.
Edwards then went on to defeat Usman again, this time via unanimous decision, in their trilogy fight at UFC 286 in London on March 18, 2023 before defending his belt for the second time with another unanimous decision win over Colby Covington at UFC 296 on December 16 last year.
Muhammad has also been on a tear since that eye-poke.The 35-year-old recorded unanimous decision victories over legends Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson at UFC 263 and UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs Daukas, respectively, to close out 2021.
He then secured a third consecutive unanimous decision win, this time beating Vicente Luque in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Muhammad 2 on April 16, 2022.
At UFC 280 on October 22, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, Muhammad won performance of the night for his knockout win over Sean Brady and in his last fight, he defeated former title challenger Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision at UFC 288 on May 6, 2023 in New Jersey.
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