England’s smallest player shows superhuman strength to stun Eddie Jones
Having the ball ripped out of your hands in a rugby match is embarrassing at the best of times, but when it is done by a player 65 kg lighter than you it is downright humiliating.
Unfortunately for Stade Francais’ lock JJ van der Mescht, he was on the receiving end of such humiliation when he met his match against Bristol Bears scrum-half Harry Randall at Ashton Gate on Saturday in the Heineken Champions Cup.
The towering lock paid the price for carrying the ball into contact with one hand, as no sooner had he run into the 24-year-old No9 than he was seeing him run off in the other direction and chipping the ball into Stade Francais’ in-goal area.
Take a look (0:27 in the video):
https://twitter.com/ChampionsCup/status/1484239806351687688?s=20
An this little feat may have helped Eddie Jones when picking his England squad this week as three days after his performance Randall was picked for England’s Six Nations squad.
England Squad
Forwards
Alfie Barbeary (Wasps, uncapped)
Jamie Blamire (Newcastle Falcons, 5 caps)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, uncapped)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 31 caps)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 36 caps)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 4 caps)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 26 caps)
Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers, 31 caps)
Jamie George (Saracens, 61 caps)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)
Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, 12 caps)
Maro Itoje (Saracens, 51 caps)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 90 caps)
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 10 caps)
Joe Marler (Harlequins, 74 caps)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)
Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 9 caps)
Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 47 caps)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 15 caps)
Backs
Mark Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, 1 cap)
Orlando Bailey (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
Owen Farrell (Saracens, 94 caps)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
George Furbank (Northampton Saints, 5 caps)
Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish, uncapped)
Max Malins (Saracens, 10 caps)
Joe Marchant (Harlequins, 7 caps)
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 69 caps)
Luke Northmore (Harlequins, uncapped)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 34 caps)
Raffi Quirke (Sale Sharks, 2 caps)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 2 caps)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 43 caps)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 5 caps)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 112 caps)
