The last time Richard Wigglesworth won a cap for England it coincided with “one of the worst weeks of my life”. Several of the squad preparing to face Uruguay in Manchester in the autumn of 2015 knew their team’s premature World Cup exit might abruptly curtail their international careers and the scrum-half was among the casualties.
Little wonder then the Saracens No 9 looks the happiest man in Bagshot where England are limbering up for Saturday’s Six Nations showdown with Wales. Not only is he back in line to win a 28th cap but the horribly unfortunate injury to Ben Youngs has opened a tantalising window of opportunity. England will need a third scrum-half at next year’s World Cup in Japan and, all of a sudden, Wigglesworth is the man in possession.
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Never mind he will be 36 by then. Even if he only endures as far as this summer’s tour to South Africa he will move past Bristol’s Richard “Corky” Harding as the oldest scrum-half to represent England, but Wigglesworth is adamant top-level half-backs ripen with age: “Whether I get picked next year or not I’m still planning to be playing, definitely. I’m not interested in finishing anytime soon.
“It’s a question you get asked a bit but the only way to answer it is to play and train well and to look like you are nowhere near done.”
Keep trying to improve, he reckons, and the body will respond accordingly. “A lot of people may get to this age and try and hang on but I’m not interested in that. I take inspiration from the likes of Neil de Kock who was at Saracens until he was 38 and was the fittest man in the squad. Peter Stringer has done the same.
“All my reading now is on old professionals, how good they are, and taking inspiration from that.”
Those who hang around Wigglesworth on a daily basis at Saracens can testify to his enduring energy. “He’s a proper professional, very diligent and one of the hardest-working and fittest guys I know,” says his club-mate Maro Itoje.
“Don’t ever run next to Richard because he’ll make you look terrible. He’s old enough to be my dad and he can outrun me! He’s an experienced, calm head but when the time comes he’s on it. He’s noisy and he gives you a clear sense of direction. If you fall short he’s not afraid to let you know it.”
Hence the reason Eddie Jones brought the Lancastrian back into the fold for the non-cap game against the Barbarians last year and has now summoned him again.
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Wasps’ Dan Robson, Gloucester’s Ben Vellacott and Exeter’s Jack Maunder have youth on their side but Wigglesworth’s advantage lies in his lengthy association with Steve Borthwick, Paul Gustard, Owen Farrell, Mako Vunipola et al at Saracens.
There is no more precise box-kicker in the Premiership and getting back up to speed with England’s systems via the app which now hosts their playbook will not pose him a major problem.
It also does no harm that he has helped steer Saracens to back-to-back European titles and has Test experience dating back a decade. His success at club level has been among the primary reasons why his post-2015 England exile has not been as depressing as it might otherwise have been.
“Being at the sharp end of tournaments definitely helped me get over what happened. It was one of the worst weeks of my life. There is no point sugarcoating it … you put that much effort into something and you mess it up.
“But that’s life isn’t it? You can be as jealous [about selection] as you want but it’s other people who decide that for you. You can only decide your attitude and how you react.
“I’m not saying I would have reacted as well if I was 25 – I’m sure my experience helped – but I stopped worrying about what I couldn’t control a long time ago.”
There is an argument that starting with Wigglesworth may suit England tactically against a Wales team who would prefer as unstructured a game as possible. Danny Care would be aghast, however, if Jones made that call and the six tries England scored while the Harlequin was on the field in Rome should help settle the debate.
Everyone connected with England, meanwhile, sympathises with Youngs’ anguish but, as Wigglesworth can testify, few things in sport are sweeter than a successful comeback.