Shane's centre stage
Good news for Johnno as Geraghty gears up for season finale
Last updated: 18th April 2008
There's a couple of games left in the season, then the summer tours are coming up and I just want to be back playing at the level I was before those injuries and the be on those tours.
Shane Geraghty
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"Shane's got that ability to play 10 or 12. I think he's the most special out of a special batch coming through" Brian Smith
Once the dust has finally settled in the England camp, Martin Johnson must decide where best to utilise the burgeoning talents of Shane Geraghty.
Some say 10, some say 12.
It is a debate that could split the game down the middle, and a legacy left by the out-going Brian Ashton, the man kicked into touch by the RFU when it comes to the national side - yet the man who might just have found what England had been looking for in midfield.
For it was Ashton, ironically in his first stint as head of the National Academy, that came up with the solution to the problem of having two precocious number 10's: stick with Danny Cipriani at fly-half and give Geraghty a go at inside centre.
Add to that Mike Catt's nationalistic leanings and all of a sudden, coaching experience or no coaching experience, Johnson has a nice problem on his hands in the shape of Geraghty.
"Brian Ashton first mentioned it to me two years ago when me and Danny were playing Under 19's," Geraghty told The Rugby Club.
"I think I ended up playing at 12 and then going to full-back. It was good to have two similar 10's in the team.
"And fair play to Mike, what he said was right. He said be patient and you'll get your chance and it worked out that he was captain on the day.
"It was great to play alongside him and a day I will always remember. It was also great for him to be captain and win at Twickenham."
That debut at Twickenham, as a replacement in the Six Nations win over France in 2007 was quick in coming and was supposed to be the start of big things for the lad from London Irish.
But a succession of injuries, including hamstring, groin, knee and hand problems have meant there was little chance to progress as he had hoped.
Improve
Those problems took him out of World Cup contention and Six Nations consideration this year, but with Irish in the last four of the Heineken Cup and England's new era already dawning, Geraghty is fit and firing and ready to take centre stage again.
"They injuries have come at bad times as well: during the Six Nations and last year they came prior to the World Cup - and it doesn't come any bigger than that," he said.
"So it has been a bad time, but it's given me time to go away and work on the things I need to improve on.
"Hopefully I'm over that now. There's a couple of games left in the season, then the summer tours are coming up and I just want to be back playing at the level I was before those injuries and the be on those tours.
"I've got quite a few aims. There's the New Zealand tour, the Heineken Cup coming up and we want to be in Europe next season as well, so we've got a lot to play for.
"There's four or five games left in the season and it is kind of make or break for us, so I'm just glad to be back playing and hopefully I'll be involved in a successful end to the season."
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