Nick Easter ready to provide crucial experience to England World Cup squad
Tuesday 29 September 2015 07:36, UK
Nick Easter is looking forward to helping England rescue their World Cup ambitions after being called up to replace injured No 8 Billy Vunipola.
Easter, 37, will appear at his third World Cup having been the latest of omissions from the original 31-man squad - losing out to Ben Morgan on the day of the announcement despite excelling as a second-half replacement in the warm-up match against France in Paris.
"I'm delighted that my pre-season has finally come to an end! I'd done two, one with England, played the warm-ups, and then back with Quins to do another pre-season!" said Easter, who was driving to training at Harlequins when he was told he had been summoned to the squad's Surrey training base.
"I'm absolutely thrilled. It's what I've kept digging in for since 2011. I came back at the start of the year, worked hard and just missed out on selection last month. The management said I was on standby and that anything can happen.
"It's very unfortunate for Billy. He played very well against Wales and was a star of the Six Nations. You'd like to be in the original squad but clearly I'm very honoured to be here."
England must topple Australia at Twickenham on Saturday if they are to avoid becoming the only host nation to fail to reach the knockout stage of the World Cup.
"The players are looking forward to the biggest week of their lives, which it is. It's knockout rugby from here on in," Easter said.
"The most important thing for me to do is to play well. Just through my sheer number of years in the game I've been in pressure situations.
"I have an understanding of what sort of advice to give and I'd like to lend my experience if I am involved, whether it be in the 23 or the 31.
"I will try to impart some previous knowledge but it's all about 8pm this weekend. It's a new game with new situations and we have a very, very good squad who can deal with it."
