Homer set to stay while England star Armitage faces fight for spot

Mar 25 2009 By Julian Easterbrook, Staines News

Tom Homer again slotted in like a natural while London Irish star Delon Armitage was on Six Nations duty for England.

Homer grabbed 22 of his sides 32 points, with eight out of eight kicks at goal, as Irish beat Northampton 32-27 while Armitage was helping his country to victory over Scotland.

And Irish head coach Toby Booth admitted it would be hard to drop Homer when Armitage is back for the visit of Bristol on April 4.

He said: "Tom does that week-in week-out in training.

"He is a metronomic kicker and is a natural at it.

"He's a great striker of the ball and therefore it goes absolutely straight. He's forgotten he's only 18, and has kicked us to victory before a large crowd.

"Tom's been first class for us. He scored two tries on debut against Saracens, so he's proved he can live in the attacking world of Premiership rugby.

"He's defended well today, and he's now shown that he can potentially be a top-class Premiership kicker.

"He'll make mistakes, but he's one for the future and we are very excited about him."

Meanwhile Armitage, who has been the stand-out player for England this season, is now dreaming of a place in the British Lions squad to tour South Africa this summer.

He said: "I would be lying if I didn't say that the Lions is a dream, and now it's about going back to my club and trying and keep the form that I've had in the past few weeks.

"If I get the call, then brilliant, but if not then I need to keep working away to become a better player to be up there with the best full-backs in the world.

"I never dreamed I would be playing in the Six Nations for England, and I've really enjoyed every bit of it - even the ups and the downs, and I'm looking forward to getting back in an England shirt again

"But I'm every bit as disappointed as everyone else. We all know that we blew a great chance to get a grand slam losing those two close games on the road that we could have and should have won."