WARRIORS director of rugby Alan Solomons has paid tribute to his England-bound quartet who will gather in Brighton this week ahead of the summer tour to South Africa and the Quilter Cup match with the Barbarians next Sunday.
Centre Ben Te’o will be heading to South Africa as part of the tour while Nick Schonert, Jack Singleton and Warriors academy youngster Ollie Lawrence will have the chance to showcase their talents as part of the 31-man traning squad.
Te’o will be flying out to South Africa as part of Eddie Jones’ 34-man squad for the tour in June and has been in good form recently after starting all of Warriors’ final five games of the season – crossing the whitewash twice as part of an exciting backline which scored 18 tries during that time.
The British and Irish Lion started Warriors’ first seven games of the 2017/18 season but missed a large part of the campaign with an ankle injury sustained back in October, before returning to feature in all of England’s NatWest 6 Nations games.
“It was great to have Ben for the last few games of the season. As he settled back into the environment, he played better and better. I wish him all the best on the trip to South Africa and we look forward to welcoming him back to Sixways for the new season,” Solomons said.
Schonert has been one of the Premiership’s standout tightheads, as he helped prop up a Warriors front row which was joint-fifth in the league for average scrums won per game.
“Sharky has had a tremendous season. He is an outstanding scrummager but what has been significant in the time since I’ve been at Sixways, are the huge strides he has taken in terms of his general play. He’s also providing a very strong leadership role,” Solomons added.
Schonert’s fellow front rower Singleton has had a busy campaign in the Blue and Gold too, featuring 25 times across the season and playing in all but one game in the Premiership.
Singleton toured with England in Argentina last summer and also featured in last year’s clash with the Barbarians at Twickenham, as did teammate Will Spencer, but the latter misses out on an England call-up through injury.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Ollie Lawrence has had a remarkable year, culminating in his England call-up.
Solomons added: “Ollie is clearly an outstanding young talent. I think he is someone who will make a big contribution to our club.”