Conor O’Shea, the Director of Rugby of the Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club Harlequins FC has backed Nick Easter to make a return to the England setup, four years since he won his last cap.
Easter himself has admitted he desperately wants a recall to Stuart Lancaster’s side as he still has some unfinished business with the national team. Easter last played for the Roses during their calamitous Rugby World Cup campaign in New Zealand in 2011 and was not called up to the side following the arrival of Lancaster as coach.
But now, with Ben Morgan, Lancaster’s first choice number eight out with a broken leg and certain to miss the upcoming Six Nations Championship and maybe the Rugby World Cup in the summer on home soil as well, calls to draft Easter back into the side has been getting louder by the day.
And O’Shea has said that he will always back his players for the national team but what baffles him the most is why it has taken so long for Easter to even be considered. The Harlequins FC added that Morgan’s injury gives him the perfect opportunity to stake his claim in the side and England has no one of his calibre at the moment.
He added that Easter should definitely warrant a place inside the top 35 players in the country, especially after his recent displays. He mentioned that he has been playing his heart out for Harlequins FC and that too, against quality opposition as well.
Lancaster was concerned by the age of Nick Easter and thought that he might be over the hill but according to O’Shea, his display against the Leicester Tigers shows he still has a lot to give to the England national team and to the club as well.