Croft looking to cap his day off

The 'starstruck' newcomer is in the strange position of being surplus to requirements for his club one week yet within reach of getting capped for his country the next.

With a bit of luck, the latest big thing to roll off the Leicester assembly line will have a rough idea of where he stands once the confusion swirling around the precise identity of the back row clears come Monday morning.

While every Welsh player bar one puts his feet up for the day, England will expose themselves to the usual masochistic preparation of trying to knock the stuffing out of one another in the relentless quest for Premiership points.

That Croft will be safely out of the line of fire is a small mercy for Brian Ashton on a fraught weekend.

If he is really lucky, England's head coach might conceivably finish up tomorrow with one more back-row candidate than he had yesterday.

Lewis Moody, restricted to one game in five weeks because of ankle trouble, starts for Leicester today.

But the general uncertainty has prompted Ashton to keep the two reinforcements he called up this week — Michael Lipman of Bath and the uncapped Luke Narraway from Gloucester, who packs down against Wasps at Kingsholm today alongside Welsh No 8 Gareth Delve.

Nobody can be quite sure exactly where Croft comes in the pecking order on the blindside of the back row other than it is nowhere near where he used to be.

The most striking aspect of the young giant is not his height, (6ft 6in), nor his weight (161⁄2st), but that he is probably the fastest of his breed — fast enough to push the Premiership's top speed merchant Tom Varndell into a photo-finish.

Croft would have been a long way down the list as recently as three months ago — behind Martin Corry, Joe Worsley, Lawrence Dallaglio, Nick Easter, James Haskell and Moody himself, given his dual qualification for appearing at sixes and sevens for club and country.

But the first three are all out of the equation for round one of the Six Nations — Corry and Dallaglio through retirement; Worsley, who will also miss the Italy game, through injury.

Easter, the man in possession at No 8 and unquestionably first choice against Wales, has still to prove his fitness after missing a handful of matches for Harlequins.

Haskell is a racing certainty to start, preferably at No 6 but almost certainly at No 8 should Easter run out of time.

The openside role is a straight choice between Moody and Tom Rees, which would leave the issue of who is best equipped to provide the most effective cover from the bench.

Croft's ability to play anywhere across the back row makes him an appealing proposition.

On the debit side, Leicester have permitted him only 12 Premiership starts, Corry's selection on the blindside, Jordan Crane's at No 8 and Brett Deacon's preference on the bench eliminating any question of even a limited appearance today.

If recent experiences with Mathew Tait and Anthony Allen have taught England to be wary about giving youth a fling, then no less a judge than Dean Richards dismisses any question of Croft being a risk at No 22.

'Tom is an outstanding talent with a great future,' said Richards, who happened to be the same age when he made his two-try England debut against Ireland in 1986.

'He's got all the attributes for the modern game — pace, power, edge and attitude.

'England could throw him in and it wouldn't hurt them.'

Croft, who first sprang to notice with a sensational try for Leicester in last year's EDF Energy Cup win over the Ospreys at Twickenham, is too well-versed in the pitfalls of his profession to let that sort of stuff change the size of his cap when it comes.

'It's very nice of someone like Dean to say so,' he admitted, 'but if you start believing it, then it can all go downhill very quickly,' he said after joining England's squad for the first time this week.

'I've been a bit starstruck, to be honest, but I'll get over that quickly enough.

'It never occurred to me that I'd get into the Six Nations squad so early.

'There's so much competition, so many players who are older, bigger and stronger that you can end up getting a bit depressed if you let it get to you. You have to stick in there and clamber yourself up that ladder.'

He has not got there by accident. Born in Basingstoke and brought up in Newbury, Croft was single-minded enough to up sticks and further his rugby education in the Daily Mail Schools' Cup with Oakham, where he came into Leicesteer's orbit.

'It was a massive decision for a 16-year-old to pull up his roots, go to boarding school and then join a professional club. But then I've always been very passionate about my rugby.'