George Skivington backs Seb Atkinson to fill England centre role after Gloucester star shines during late defeat to Bath in PREM

After an impressive showing in Gloucester's narrow loss to Gallagher PREM champions Bath, head coach George Skivington has lauded centre Seb Atkinson and backed him to earn an England jersey in Steve Borthwick's Six Nations squad. The Gloucester 12 was selected in the 36-player training squad but England's back-line has significant depth in the centre positions for Atkinson to contend with.

Gloucester head coach George Skivington has heaped praise on centre Seb Atkinson and backed him to earn a spot in a matchday squad for the Six Nations.

Atkinson was part of the 36-player training squad selected by Steve Borthwick on Friday and just one of two Gloucester players to be chosen.

The 23-year-old was sublime during the Cherry and White's close defeat to Bath, in what was a thrilling and heated derby at Kingsholm, with the hosts losing out 26-30 after two late penalties from Finn Russell.

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Gloucester were the best side throughout much of the tie but a loss of focus on their end, and the impact of Bath's bench, saw the visitors steal a treasured win.

But Atkinson stuck out with an excellent performance at inside centre, a position where Borthwick is flush with options.

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Skivington praised his side's tactics and heart, giving a special nod to Atkinson after he was selected for the England squad.

"I thought tactically, the boys were great, he said. "I thought Tommy [Tomos Williams], Charlie [Atkinson] ran the show tonight. George Barton at 15.

"And I thought Seb Atkinson was unbelievable. Hopefully he's played his way into an England jersey, because he is pretty hard to beat."

Skivington's side have picked up just a single victory in the PREM this season and were incredibly close to adding another against Bath.

The side have also had to contend with several unfortunate injuries over the last few months, making their job at salvaging a poor season much harder.

"I'm very proud of the group," Skivington added. "We spoke before the game about the emotion and the intent behind this. We know where our season's at and Gloucester v Bath is massive. There's some guys out there, like Will Crane, JEGs (Josiah Edwards-Giraud) has been out for months, he's just done 80 minutes.

"Deian Gwynne playing in the second row against two big heavy hitters. Some of the stuff they're producing is just playing out of their skin. Guys like that, I'm just unbelievably proud of.

"It's just unfortunate. We could have controlled a couple of those tries and a couple of tries disallowed. And that's frustrating because we're in a position to win that game."

Gloucester's Atkinson duo combine to 'raise the bar' with sublime third try against Bath

Video credit: TNT Sports

He continued: "I think that's our best game so far. We've lost a couple of narrow ones recently and that's really narrow against a good team.

"I think we'll take a lot of positives. It's sore right now because of those bits at the end. But I am proud of the boys and we will take positives from that. I think a bit of continuity with the lads and they're starting to look good again.

Healey and Kay pick their England squad

TNT Sports pundits Austin Healey and Ben Kay spoke before the game with Craig Doyle and revealed who they would have in England's matchday squad against Wales.

The two nations clash in their opening match on February 7 and the pair revealed who they think Borthwick should choose.

"The first six pick themselves," Kay began. "Underhill was superb in the autumn, Ben Earl. But we know that England changed their strategy and had the bomb squad off the bench during the autumn. So the likes of Pollock, Cunningham-South and Curry coming on to absolutely disrupt things.

"I've gone for a 6-2 bench because it worked very well in November. I don't think there's many changes from what England were doing."

Healey and Kay pick their England side to take on Wales in Six Nations opener

Video credit: TNT Sports

Healey, however, quickly realised one fatal mistake - his accidental exclusion of Northampton Saints' Henry Pollock.

"Obviously I've just corrected the mistakes Ben made in his team. It was quite easy to be honest," he joked.

"But the main change would probably be Coles over Chessum, I think that's a really tough decision for Borthwick and the coaches.

"But I've just realised I've made another mistake, I've left Pollock off the bench."

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