London Irish head coach Toby Booth is sure that Paul Hodgson will be in England's plans for the upcoming autumn internationals.
Exiles head coach convinced scrum-half will receive England call
London Irish head coach Toby Booth is sure that Paul Hodgson will be in England's plans for the upcoming autumn internationals.
With England manager Martin Johnson watching on, the scrum-half impressed during the Exiles' 28-16 Guinness Premiership victory over Wasps.
The 27-year-old has yet to be capped but Booth expects that will change as England prepare to face Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.
"It's a delight to have Paul on your side and in front of England selectors he's shown what he's good at," he said.
"He has good core skills and can play with great clarity in high pressure games. He can be the midfield general.
"We must plan for life without him when the autumn internationals come around because I'm sure he'll be involved.
"England have their reasons for picking people in front of him, maybe because they want gamebreakers.
"But if they want someone who can contribute in a leadership aspect and in relationship to his own skill set, then he should be an automatic choice."
Strong
Hodgson has not the only Irish player to catch the eye on Sunday as winger Sailosi Tagicakibau emerged from the contest with the man-of-the-match award.
The Samoan scored twice - once in each half - to take his tally for the season to five tries in four matches.
"Sailosi Tagicakibau is a deceptively strong guy. People think he's just ambling around," said Booth.
"He has massive power and can break through the first tackle. If you get it wrong against him he will punish you and he showed that again today.
"He's in a rich vein form and it's good to see him back to his best because he's an important player for us."
Ryan Lamb also kicked 15 points in a victory which moved Irish up to second in the Premiership table.
Indeed, their line was only breached when Adam Thompstone conceded a penalty try for an illegal tackle on Dominic Waldouck.
The defeat was Wasps' first of the season and director of rugby Tony Hanks admitted they deserved to lose.
Form side
"We were beaten by the better team. They're the form side in the league and it showed you must be at your best to beat Irish at the Madejski Stadium," he said.
"We weren't at our best but don't take anything away from Irish. Their left winger was outstanding and a real handful for us.
"It was an opportunity for us to see where we're at. Wasps and Irish always seem to be each other's benchmark.
"While we have made good progress this season, this game has given us some things to think about in terms of how good the league is.
"They were up for it and towards the end of the game they got a sniff of it and really piled in.
"We didn't start well and were on the back foot from then on."
