Ben Morgan up and running in time to prove his worth

 
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Chris Jones24 May 2013

Ben Morgan will confirm his recovery from a serious ankle injury by taking on the Barbarians on Sunday.

Gloucester No8 Morgan required two steroid injections after injuring ligaments in his right ankle during England’s 38-18 win over Scotland in their opening match of the RBS Six Nations.

His ball carrying and improved defence marked him out as a key England asset but he was unable to walk in the weeks after the match and had to endure a slow recovery that kept him out of the rest of their Grand Slam bid.

England came up well short of their target, losing 30-3 in Cardiff after Wales physically battered them to a record defeat in the final game, which only served to highlight how badly the squad missed Morgan.

Now, the 24-year-old is raring to go against the Baa-Baas at Twickenham as he faces a battle to hold onto the No8 jersey for the two Tests in Argentina in the face of competition from Billy Vunipola, brother of Lions prop Mako.

With 10 England players in the Lions touring party and others, including captain Chris Robshaw, rested this summer, new leaders must emerge in South America and Morgan is one of the obvious candidates.

He said: “I have 10 caps and I suppose that does make me one of the experienced guys in the current squad.

“Billy [Vunipola] and I have similar weights programmes and while there is rivalry, you need to put that to one side to benefit the team. It doesn’t matter who starts against the Baa-Baas, you need to be ready.

“We get on well and both want to help the team.”

England v Barbarians, Sunday, 12.30pm, live on Sky Sports 4

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