Jack van Poortvliet calls himself a “student of the game” and England’s 22-year-old scrum-half has no trouble recalling a couple of standout moments involving two of his colleagues.
The first is Ben Youngs’s 66th-minute try against Argentina that saw England nudge ahead in a 2011 World Cup group game. The second is Danny Care’s solo score against France in 2016 that helped secure a Six Nations grand slam win in Paris.
The detail and texture provided would suggest Van Poortvliet was there, either on the field or pitch-side for these two famous contributions from the country’s most-capped scrum-halves. Of course, he wasn’t. He was 10 years old in 2011 and 14 in 2016. Now, six weeks out from a World Cup, he is competing with two England legends for that No 9 jersey.
“You watch them as you grow up and think of them now in these situations,” Van Poortvliet says from the team’s immaculate base in Pennyhill. “Whoever starts or benches, [it’s about] how you can have the best impact on the team to help them get the win over 80 minutes. There are things I can learn from both of them.”
Don’t let the sports-speak fool you. Desire burns inside and though he calls himself a “sponge”, eager to absorb as much information as he can from the veterans alongside him, he is as desperate as them to win Steve Borthwick’s favour.
“There isn’t any impostor syndrome,” he says without hesitation. “For us nines, we have obviously got a big role commanding what we want from the team, in terms of the forward pack and bits, and as soon as we step on the grass the team needs a voice and for us to push them out and give them the direction they need.
“I have always been told, as soon as I came into professional rugby, that you can’t shy away from anything as a scrum-half and you can’t be afraid of putting your voice out because the team needs your voice and direction. It is something I have worked on to have the confidence to do it.
“But as soon as I came into this environment, I knew I couldn’t be quiet. It is something that comes naturally to me, to be demanding on the field. There are ways to learn to be better at it and do it in the right way, but I feel if I am not doing it the team will suffer.”
Like Youngs, Van Poortvliet was born in Norfolk and developed his game at Leicester as an academy graduate. “He’s from the same area, why can’t I do that?” he says, recreating an internal dialogue as he practises his passing.
Having Youngs around has helped him transition into the England set-up. So have other familiar figures, including Richard Wigglesworth, capped 33 times as an England scrum-half himself, and the scrum coach Tom Harrison, who both followed Borthwick from Leicester.
“It has been a bit weird,” Van Poortvliet adds. “We were trying to work out what would be weirder, coming in here with all the Leicester coaches in England kit or going back to Leicester and having a completely new coaching set-up and staff there.
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“It was a bit strange to start with but once you get past them in the England kit it is like it was before. There are slight changes and a different playing environment but it has been really cool.”
Though Van Poortvliet’s attention has been centred on his own game, he has lifted his head high enough to observe what other top level No 9s are up to. He was engrossed by New Zealand’s early blitz of South Africa in the Rugby Championship earlier this month that had the All Blacks 17-0 up after just 17 minutes. Van Poortvliet noted how Aaron Smith cycled through a range of kicking options and linked with Beauden Barrett or Richie Mo’unga at first receiver.
Along with Ireland, France and South Africa, New Zealand are among the clear favourites to be crowned champions in France. All four are also on the same side of the draw which means only one of them can reach the final. England have been offered a far gentler potential passage to the showpiece game but are still considered an outside bet to double their World Cup tally.
“I don’t think we are talking about that at all,” Van Poortvliet says when asked if the group is bothered by the pessimism about their prospects in France. He trots out quotable lines about process and taking it one game at a time. Don’t be fooled: he will be desperate to make a splash at the tournament. First, though, Van Poortvliet has to edge past two of his heroes.
