Bears dynamo Harry hopes to take his game to the next level

BRISTOL hooker Harry Thacker hopes a successful end to a thrilling campaign will put him into contention for the Autumn Internationals.

- NEALE HARVEY

With England boss Eddie Jones assessing options ahead of a series of October announcements, dependent on which clubs make the play-offs, whirling dervish Thacker is among a host of hookers pressing cases to challenge regular No.2s Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie.

Thacker has made hay since decamping from Leicester to Bristol in 2018 and has long been earmarked by club supremo Pat Lam as an x-factor performer he expects to make the step up to Test level.

Thacker, 26, said: “I’d love to play for England and all I can do is keep trying to improve. The main thing is to keep enjoying my rugby and the squad we’ve got here drives standards. So long as I keep playing a lot of rugby, that’s when I’m enjoying it best.

“Playing week-in, weekout, as opposed to the few games I was getting here and there at Leicester, has massively helped my setpiece and the way Bristol want to play suits my game. I get a lot of ball in hand in space and it fuels the way I’ve always liked to play.”

Thacker added: “When I was at Leicester, I used to look at how Schalk Brits played the game and he was completely different to most of the other hookers around at that time. For me, it was always about trying to replicate that.