Jamie George has revealed his bounce back from losing the England captaincy was inspired by Joe Root doing the same in cricket. George was unceremoniously dumped as captain by Steve Borthwick in January, with Maro Itoje taking over, over a coffee in a St Albans cafe. The hooker missed the Ireland opener with a calf injury but has since produced turbo-charged performances in the Six Nations wins over France and Scotland.

He thought his international days could be done after Borthwick’s bombshell but will raise his bat for his 100^th cap, against Italy, on Sunday. George, a big cricket fan, said he had been inspired by Root’s rise from Ashes humiliation and resignation from the captaincy in 2022 to topping the world batting rankings by 2024.

George said: “It hurt, it really did and the first thing on my mind was ‘is that me?’ I was gutted, I was disappointed and I felt like I had a lot more to give. When I was reflecting on it I took a bit of inspiration from Joe Root. I look at him now and the freedom he has and the way he has kicked on to become the best batsman in the world arguably.

“That is hugely inspiring and I see that as the sort of trajectory I aspire to be on. It has freed him up and allowed him to play even better than he already was. That is how I would love it to be and I am feeling a bit of that.

“I saw it a little bit with Chris Robshaw post the 2015 World Cup but he wasn’t around for too much long after that. The injury ironically came at a weird time before the first game whilst all of it was going on. I was watching that Ireland game desperate to be involved and that is when you know. 

“I wanted to be on the field and I wanted to be able to help. That will be case as long as I lace my boots up.” Borthwick completely blindsided George with his decision which was made just days before he was due to announce his Six Nations squad.

But George has shown he is not done over the past couple of weeks and is eyeing a Lions spot this summer and the 2027 World Cup beyond that.

The 34-year-old added: “It wasn’t a two-way conversation, it was very one way. I don’t think you can plead your case like in a break-up! We didn’t hang around for too long. I wasn’t expecting it but at the same time I understood it. Steve has always been very clear with me and very honest and I have worked with coaches before who haven’t been. 

“I really value that with Steve. I want to play for England as long as I can, the World Cup is definitely an ambition of mine and I would love to put my name in the hat for another Lions tour and hopefully my performances over the next couple of weeks will put my name in the conversation.”