Looking back on the player he was ahead of the last World Cup four years ago, Jamie George admits the man who stares back at him in the mirror now is almost unrecognisable.
Ahead of the 2015 tournament in England, the Saracens hooker had been told he would not be part of then coach Stuart Lancaster’s training squad.
However, after Dylan Hartley picked up a four-week ban — for landing a headbutt on none other than George during Northampton’s play-off semi-final against Saracens — that ruled him out of the first game of the World Cup, the then uncapped front-rower was drafted in and thrown onto the international stage.
“It was a bit of a rollercoaster to be honest,” George tells Standard Sport. “It sounds weird but I got told the week before that I wasn’t in the training squad.
“Then there was an incident and I got called into it. That was an incredible feeling after the disappointment of being told I wasn’t in.”
Since those first steps in international rugby, George has established himself as the first-choice hooker for England and Saracens, while he also has three Test appearances for the British & Irish Lions under his belt, too.
In short, the 28-year-old is a far cry from the player who was first called up by England four years ago and he is now one of the leaders in Eddie Jones’s squad.
“I think it is probably night and day,” says George, comparing himself to the man he was in 2015. “You learn most about yourself in the highest-pressure environments. I have been lucky to be in those high-profile games, whether through finals with Saracens or on the international stage.
“Leadership has always been a strong part of my game. The most important thing from a leadership point of view is you need the respect of the people you are talking to.
“I have got that now and it is nice for me to be able to put my stamp on things and add to the great leaders that we have in the squad.”
It is not just as a leader that George has grown. Over the past four years he has developed into one of rugby’s leading hookers, defining his own style in a position that has taken on new meaning following the emergence of all-action players such as New Zealand’s Dane Coles and South Africa’s Malcolm Marx.
“Everyone has very different views of how a hooker should play,” says George.
World Cup warm-ups
Sunday v Wales (Twickenham, 2pm)
Aug 17 v Wales (Cardiff, 2.15pm)
Aug 24 v Ireland (Twickenham, 3pm)
Sept 6 v Italy (St James’ Park, 7.45pm
“I have been really lucky to work with both Schalk Brits and John Smit, two very different style of hookers. I quite like to think of myself as a bit of a hybrid between the two.
“I enjoy the set-piece side of it from John and he is probably the best operator I have seen at scrum time as a hooker. Then I do enjoy the more open space stuff that I learned from Schalk.”
It is a lethal combination and one that stands George in good stead ahead of Saturday’s Quilter International with Wales.
It is the first of four World Cup warm-up matches for England, who the following week face Wales again in Cardiff before hosting Ireland at Twickenham and then Italy in Newcastle.
“Wales and Ireland are big rivals and we have had some great games against them in the past,” says George.
“I am desperate to win this World Cup. You just have to look at what the success of the England cricket team has done to the country.
“We want to try to replicate that by going out to Japan and, firstly putting in performances, but also bringing home the trophy.”
Jamie George was speaking on behalf of Quilter, a principal partner of England Rugby. www.quilter.com
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