England head coach Stuart Lancaster has opened the door to an international return for Harlequins No.8 Nick Easter during the autumn internationals.
The 34-year-old has not featured in the Elite Player Squad since Lancaster succeeded Martin Johnson at the England helm, with his last performance coming against France at the World Cup in Auckland in 2011.
Easter has started the season impressively for Harlequins, catching the eye in particular for the defending Aviva Premiership champions in his side’s win against Leicester at Welford Road.
The England back row is a congested area, with competition for the No.8 jersey coming from Leicester’s Tom Waldrom, Gloucester’s Ben Morgan, London Wasp James Haskell and Northampton’s Phil Dowson.
But despite initially overlooking Easter this summer – Lancaster revealed consistent performers in the Premiership will be rewarded internationally.
“You never say no to anyone to be honest,” said Lancaster, speaking at the BMW Academy launch in Reading.
“In terms of international rugby clearly players make their decisions to retire or not as the case may be.
“He is playing well at the moment; he played well at the weekend, as have other No.8’s as well.
“It’s all part of that balance between developing a side for the here and now, and also developing a side for the future.
“One of the concerns at the outset was we didn’t have a No.8 behind Nick Easter.
“The likes of Ben Morgan and Tom Waldrom have come through now and James Haskell is back and he can play there, and Phil Dowson was probably the pick at Northampton at the weekend, so there’s lots of good players who can play in that position so it is great that Nick is fighting hard and playing well for Quins.
“The Premiership is the bread and butter for us as international coaches, you watch every game, every week, and you are always looking for the players who are consistently in form.
“People have one-off big games but it is those players who play well consistently. We have a lot of players in England to choose from and it is making sure we track them all and make the right decisions.”
