England and Leicester Tigers scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet takes defence tips from Maxime Lucu

The No.9 has been working to improve his defence and has had Bordeaux-Begles Maxime Lucu’s performances under a microscope.

Lucu, below, and his European champions might be the kings of running rugby but it his work on the back foot that van Poortvliet has been looking at ahead of England’s Nations Championship campaign.

The 25-year-said: “It’s a big area now for nines, you’re defending in the line at lot more.”

Inspiration

He continued: “You’re filling in gaps. I took a lot of inspiration from what I saw Lucu do for Bordeaux.

“The difference he makes for his team in defence is ridiculous and I’ve been trying to make a difference in defence and pop up more.

“Also, my mindset this season has been to get my running game going as much as I can.

“I was stuck in a mindset last season and before of trying to be consistent.

“I’ve learned this year that I can only be consistent with a mindset of ‘go out to stand out’, go out to properly make a difference. Consistency sort of implies that it’s OK to be average.”

England flew to Johannesburg on Wednesday night and will have 10 days prep before playing the Springboks at 5,500 feet altitude at Ellis Park.

Working hard: England and Leicester Tigers scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet in action
PICTURE: Getty Images

Scary

Touring teams have wilted in the thin air there in the past and England have taken the chance to acclimatise instead of doing an in and out trip from somewhere like Durban as Eddie Jones did in 2018.

And their prep for the atmosphere started three weeks ago in camps when players were forced to use altitude masks as they punished themselves on bikes in the gym.

Van Poortvliet added: “I’d describe the masks like Bane’s from Batman.

“You’ve got this sack of air… it’s a bit scary, though, when that sack of air runs out because then you can’t actually breathe.”