Greenwood proves he's the one for England

Chris Jones13 April 2012

Will Greenwood will discover tomorrow if his match-winning 85-metre try for Harlequins has convinced England they cannot tackle Wales without him in Saturday's Six Nations opener in Cardiff.

Greenwood sprinted through the Brive defence for one of the outstanding tries of the season as Harlequins stunned the vociferous 10,000 home crowd with a 20-13 win that puts the London club into the European Shield semi-final on 7 February.

They will face either Newcastle, Narbonne or favourites Agen and are backing a change in the competition rules that currently state matches will be played at neutral venues. Quins want the first team out of the bag for each semi-final given home advantage.

The next round of the Shield is pushed into the background this week as Greenwood and England assemble for the first match in the defence of their Six Nations championship title.

Quins chief executive Mark Evans has no doubts that Greenwood is the form centre and that England's attacking options would be greatly enhanced by his presence in the side at Cardiff. Woodward names his England team tomorrow and Greenwood is vying with the Bath pair of Mike Catt and Mike Tindall for a centre place.

Evans said: "Matt Powell took a mark five metres from our own line and Paul Burke called quickly for the ball and passed it across our posts to Greenwood who was 85 metres from the Brive line. He went through a gap showed the ball twice to the defence who were mesmerised and then he raced in for the try from 40m out.

"It was a fantastic individual effort, made by Burke's vision to recognise there was space which Greenwood exploited brilliantly.

"Burke kicked four out of four from different positions and it included the conversion of Steve White-Cooper's early try and Brive dominated most of the game. We had two try chances and took them and this win means we are the first British side to triumph in Brive.

"This victory is the result of the confidence we have gained since beating Leicester in the Tetley's Bitter Cup and although it's only a little run, it has made all the difference. We were under huge pressure because Brive were so strong."

Quins next assignment is a league clash with Gloucester on 6 February, with the West Country side equally confident after defeating Cardiff to reach the Heineken Cup semi-finals along with Leicester, who thumped Swansea. The other semi-finalists are Munster, last year's beaten finalists, and favourites Stade Francais.

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