Gabriel Ibitoye is under consideration for a place in the England A side to face Australia next month after a blockbuster start to the Premiership season.
The 26-year-old wing, who has scored five tries in the opening six fixtures, and Bristol colleague Joe Batley have both been recognised for helping Pat Lam’s free-running team towards the top of the league table.
Batley, a lock who runs the Bears line-out, has landed two tries himself amid a string of eye-catching performances. The former England age-group international joined Bristol for a second spell when Worcester Warriors went bust in 2022 and has grown into one of the most consistent forwards in the country.
An initial selection meeting for the fixture against Australia A at the Twickenham Stoop on November 17 is thought to have been held last week. Steve Borthwick has been heavily involved as well as Mark Mapletoft, who is overseeing England A, and Conor O’Shea, the Rugby Football Union’s performance director.
The squad is due to be announced on November 6 and it is understood that players in the wider Elite Player Squad (EPS) as well as recent graduates from the England Under-20 side will be prioritised. As with the last England A outing against Portugal during the Six Nations earlier this year, several individuals will drop down from the senior set-up for that week.
The Harlequins backline duo of Oscar Beard and Cadan Murley are thought to be in line for appearances, while Bath wing Will Muir is fit again. Tom Pearson and Tom Willis will be leading candidates for the back row. Pearson and Guy Pepper started for England A against Portugal in February.
Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Afo Fasogbon, the props who started for England in the triumphant Under-20 World Championship decider against France this summer, are possible inclusions and were praised by Borthwick earlier this month.
“I think you’re seeing some younger props there who are doing really well,” said the England head coach. “How great is it to see young, tight-five players who are just out of the Under-20s playing Premiership rugby?
“I’m still a believer, especially in the front row, that development is accelerated by playing. You can train all you want but you have to play. Are [Opoku-Fordjour and Fasogbon] close [to England selection]? Yes, they are. That’s great.
“I’m hoping that other props like Billy Sela, out of the Under-20s, will get more game time soon, to make this selection even more competitive.”
Ibitoye and Batley shone in a 31-23 victory for Bristol over Northampton Saints on Friday evening at Ashton Gate. The former went over for a first-half try before unleashing a trademark offload as part of a sweeping move that laid on Batley’s finish in the second half (watch video below).
A call-up for Ibitoye would represent his first involvement in the England set-up since being picked by Eddie Jones as an apprentice in 2018. Two years later, he was released by Harlequins and found his way back to the Premiership with Bristol via stints in France and Israel.
Lam, the Bears director of rugby, has continually endorsed Ibitoye as a potential international. Following the latter’s quick-fire hat-trick against Exeter Chiefs, he underlined Ibitoye’s improvements over the past two seasons.
“Obviously I believe that he is good enough to play at the next level, but there were areas of his game [that needed work],” Lam said of Ibitoye.
“People say he doesn’t catch high balls. He’s brilliant at high balls. If they go up in the air, he’d catch four and miss one. That was just [a] mental [issue]. We’ve addressed that with him. Sean Marsden [Bristol backs and attack coach] has done a lot of work with him and he hasn’t dropped one this year.
“His fundamentals as a wing are great and, on top of that, you get the Gabs Ibitoye who is brilliant. He is one of the fittest guys and he’s electric. It’s about him staying in the game, and he’s been doing that very, very well so far.”
