Leicester have been handed a boost after back-row Tom Croft was given the all-clear to return to rugby on a full-time basis following surgery.
The England forward, who has been eased back into action after recovering from a neck operation, is a key starting player at the Welford Road side.
While he is unlikely to feature in the Six Nations, this development is a boost to Croft's hopes of making the British and Irish Lions touring squad.
"Tom is now ready to play consecutive weeks for us," Cockerill told the Leicester Mercury.
"He has metalwork in his neck to hold everything together while it heals.
"What you don't want is the screws to be working loose and that's why he was only playing every other week, to control the amount of impact and vibration going through him.
"He's been doing that for two months and we have had no adverse reaction to that. He has looked more and more comfortable as he has played every week.
"He was scanned on Monday and his X-ray has been sent to the specialist, who is happy that it has healed enough.
"It will take months for it to be completely healed so we will still manage him, but Tom was looking good at the weekend and I am pleased for him, because it was a serious injury."
Comments
lawynd says...
@rugby_rockstar - also a fair point, and to clarify when I said 'wider channels' I meant not around the fringes - he isn't going to make yards carrying into contact from first phase posession but as a link man at maximum as far as the 12 channel, he's exceptional. I think the wing thing must be a Leicester issue, because he's not all that effective out there, he doesn't have the acceleration for it.
Just for quibbling over, if by some miracle he made the Lions tour (he won't), I think a back row combination of 6 - Tom Croft, 7 - Chris Robshaw, 8 - Sean O'Brien would be immense. You could potentially switch Robshaw and O'Brien if that seems like a better fit.
Posted 12:20 28th February 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
Fair point about his mobility and Gatland did get the best out of croft in 2009, but he did it by curtailing Croft's natual wide game inclinations and giving him the simple brief of "Follow the ball" Unfortunately Croft hasn't carried that philosphy on. Its possible england and leicester coach croft to hang out on the wing but I seriously hope not.
I'm a firm believer in forwards nailing their bread and butter skill sets, and I'd argue that "following the ball" is a very basic (to be fair slightly vague) discription of the basics for loose forward. It covers a multitude of tasks from rucking, support play (and hopefully linebreaks), link play (offloads), he should always be around the ball carrier to carry out those tasks, and Croft has alot of those support skills in his natural game so I wish he'd stop hanging out of the wing doing the job of the winger.
If its poor coaching then fair enough. If he's glory hunting then he'll just lose you matches. either way I wouldn't pick him unless we knew for sure he was being coached correctly.
The Lions backrow options are legion and the strength in depth is exciting, so its up to the leicester coaching team and tom croft to make sure he's playing the right areas of the pitch if he wants to be noticed by Gatland. If he hangs out on the wing after what gatland told him to do then why would gatland pick him?
Posted 10:51 28th February 2013
lawynd says...
@Rugby_rockstar - I disagree, he proved with the Lions in 2009 that he has the ability to play at the very top level. Whilst his ruck work isn't as accomplished as other flankers he makes his tackles (and is an excellent cover tackler due to his pace), gets over the gainline in wider channels and is the second-best lineout jumper in the England setup, after Geoff Parling. He isn't suited to every game and every team (he'd be better playing with Wood and Robshaw than Robshaw and Morgan) but is a fantastic option for Lancaster and England to have.
Posted 13:57 27th February 2013
Rugby_rockstar says...
yep, I glad for him on a personal level and I'm sure he'll factor into Lancaster's argentinian plans, but long term and on a dispassion view point, I just don't think he's the sort of player that will help england beat the likes of Wales, Ireland, SA and NZ (or a focused french side). In fact anyone who has a strong contact game. Its always been his weakness.
Posted 12:46 27th February 2013
melkdave says...
Very good news for T.Croft , Leicester and England .Dont really see he has the time/ games to really mount a real sustained challange for a Lions place,.but he will be ready for Englands tour of Argentina in the summer,which wont be easy by any streach of the imagination.Expecting quite a few new faces in the England touring party to be honest.So having a player of his experaince and class available is a god send imo.Looking forward to watching these games almost as much as the Lions lol.
Posted 10:39 27th February 2013