‘I don’t think anyone really saw it coming. I didn’t’: meet Bristol’s World Cup hopeful Fitz Harding - PG

The 27-year-old flanker confounded expectations leaping from Durham university’s fourth XV to Prem rugby captain – don’t bet against his big England ambitions

At the start of every season for the past few years Fitz Harding has written down his goals for the next 12 months on the first page of a crisp new notebook. “You can probably guess what they are,” says Bristol’s impressive captain before his team’s trip to Saracens on Saturday afternoon. “I want to win the Prem, I want to play for England, I want to go to the World Cup.” He makes it sound almost matter-of-fact, like a list of basic groceries to be picked up on the way home.

The longer you spend with him, though, the more you wonder if those lofty ambitions may be realised. Not only is the 27-year-old intelligent and personable but he is not the type to give up easily. Nor does he lack for motivation. “I don’t just want to be in England’s squad. I want to play for England. It sounds silly but just getting a phone call [before the November Tests] wouldn’t mean very much to me. They’re not going to write in my obituary: ‘He made the England squad once.’”

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