Pat Lam believes it is the right time for Bristol Bears star Gabriel Ibitoye to be given a shot with England after the winger has improved the fundamentals of his game while remaining one of the most dangerous attacking backs in the Premiership.
Ibitoye proved to be the game-winner for Bristol on Saturday as he scored a nine-minute hat-trick of tries to help the Bears comeback from 20 points down to win 40-35 away at Exeter Chiefs. The rare win at Sandy Park took Lam’s side top of the table heading into this weekend’s game with Saracens.
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Speaking after the match to BristolLive, Lam said: “I believe he’s good enough to play at the next level. “His fundamentals as a winger are great, and then on top of that, we get the Gabriel Ibitoye who’s brilliant. He’s one of the fittest guys, he’s electric, but it’s about him staying in the game and he’s done that very well.
“There’s a few areas of his game we’ve worked on. If you think about high balls, he’s brilliant at catching high balls, but there’d be five high balls go up in the air and he’d catch four. We addressed that with him, and he hasn’t dropped one this year.”
While improving player’s fundamentals is important to for every coach, Lam is always keen to allow his players’ superstrengths shine, and Ibitoye certainly has plenty of those. The x-factor winger, who is still just 26, already has four tries this season to put him second in the table behind team mate Max Malins, and last season made the most metres, most offloads and beat more defenders than anyone else in the Gallagher Premiership.
Despite that the former Harlequins man remains out of the international picture. Speaking to the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast this week about whether he has been speaking with England head coach Steve Borthwick, Ibitoye said: “There has been no chat, hopefully one day soon. Looking at England, Steve definitely wants something from his wingers. I think I am different as a total package, I don’t know what the nuts and bolts are.
Borthwick is set to announce his England squad for the Autumn tomorrow, with Exeter Chiefs’ Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Northampton Saints duo Tommy Freeman and Ollie Sleightholme, and Sale Sharks’ Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks) as he four options on the wings, with Bath’s Joe Cokanasiga a potential option as well.
Ibitoye continued: “The wingers he’s got in there are obviously class but I know I might have to be less risky on the field and not take as risky decisions. The way I see it I’m just playing what I see in that moment, in that picture, so for me it’s not that risky because in the week I practice it a lot.
Ibitoye could perhaps be given an opportunity to shine in the England A game next month when they face Australia A at the Twickenham Stoop on Sunday, November 17.