With the sun glinting off the ocean just across from the scenic Coogee Oval it is not the easiest week for England’s players to focus entirely on rugby. Many have been strapping on their body armour since last August and for a British & Irish Lion like Courtney Lawes there has been scant respite. “It has been a tough year, the longest season I can remember for a long while,” said the England captain.
One last effort on Saturday and he can finally have a holiday but the amount of punishment he and several of his colleagues are having to absorb is colossal. Inside the past 12 months, including the three Tests he started for the Lions in South Africa, Lawes has featured in 26 major games for club and country. With Tom Curry and Maro Itoje now missing, it makes him the only ever-present starting English Test Lion still standing.
