Willi Heinz says he does not have to defend his World Cup selection – despite criticism of it from scrum-half rival Danny Care, writes Alex Spink in Miyazaki .
New Zealand-born and bred Heinz qualifies to play for England through his mum’s mum, who hails from near Southampton.
Yet he only made his Red Rose debut the day before Eddie Jones selected his squad – at the expense of, amongst others, 84-cap veteran Care.
The 32-year-old is one of just two scrum-halves, which means he and Ben Youngs will feature in every game of England’s campaign.
(Image: AFP)
Care admitted his rejection had stung more because he had lost out to a player who “I never knew” either wanted to play for England or was able to.
Whilst insisting he had no beef at all with Heinz personally, he observed: “Some are given an easier route than those who worked a fair bit harder.”
Gloucester star Heinz responded on the day England sweated through their first major training session since arrival in Japan.
(Image: REUTERS)
He said: “I haven’t seen everything but I’ve heard little bits and pieces about (what’s been said).
“Look, do I feel like I have to defend myself to the team? No, because no one in the team is asking questions about me on that side of things and, at the end of the day, the rules are the rules.
“I’m really excited to be here, I feel really privileged and honoured to represent England and I’m just excited about contributing what I can to the team in whatever way it is going forward.
“All I can say is that my absolute commitment is with England.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Heinz has roomed with Youngs since he first arrived in camp and praised the Leicester star for “getting me up to speed”.
He added: “We’ve spoken about our role, about the 80 minutes and about rather than it being him and me, it being about the 80-minute performance from the nines that we’re putting out on the pitch.”
* Eddie Jones says he has no idea whether Steve Borthwick will be joining Leicester later this season following an alleged approach by Tigers for the England forwards coach. He added: “I’m not interested in anything post World Cup.”
