Image: PA
FORMER ENGLAND try-scoring machine Chris Ashton has signed for Premiership club Worcester Warriors with director of rugby Alan Solomons saying on Monday he would be a “good role model”.
Ashton, 33, joins with immediate effect, having been released early from his contract with Harlequins.
He scored 20 times in his 44 Tests between 2010-2019 and was joint leading try-scorer at the 2011 World Cup.
The former rugby league star is currently third on the Premiership’s leading scorers list with 88 tries, two behind Mark Cueto and just four short of equalling Tom Varndell’s record.
“He (Ashton) is a quality, proven international, who is equally at home at wing or full-back,” said Solomons.
Bakkies Botha was a bad, bad man A Set the default text size A Set large text size
Replay A Set the default text size A Set large text size
Remember Bakkies Botha? Opponents kept an eye out. Bok fans revered him as the patron saint of hardness. Pundits oohed, aahed, and scolded. Referees kept their cards handy. Teammates adored the man.
In the insightful comments, I noticed a few names recur: a common one was Botha, mentioned as the prototype of a bruising tighthead lock. As RobC observed, none of the five locks of today scared him. I decided to look at one complete match by perhaps the scariest lock of all time, and compare one of Bakkies’ Tests to gain a sense of how efficient these nice modern big men really are, stacked against an all-time great no.4.