RUGBY: Gibson gets England call (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

RUGBY: Gibson gets England call

5:00pm Friday 1st June 2012 in Wiltshire Sport By Dan Barnes

FORMER Marlborough College captain Jamie Gibson has been called up to the England squad for their tour of South Africa.

The 21-year-old London Irish back row, who was handed his debut by Stuart Lancaster in Sunday's 57-26 win over the Barbarians, replaces the injured Joe Launchbury.

The England touring party jetted off for three games against the Springboks on Wednesday but Gibson will now fly out to meet up with his team-mates.

Earlier this week, Gibson, whose family live in Mildenhall, said that he had the hunger for more international invovlement after making his debut against the Baa Baas.

He came off the bench to replace Bath’s Carl Fearns in the 55th minute at Twickenham and the youngster, who has made 20 appearances for Irish this season, said: “It was amazing and I enjoyed my 25 minutes on the pitch – now I’ve made my debut, all I want is to be involved more now.

“Training was a little bit harder but I felt comfortable because I knew a lot of the players from playing against them or with them at different age groups.

“It was obviously a very proud moment for me and I think the thing I’ll remember the most will be the atmosphere, which was just great. I had a lot of friends and family there watching. They weren’t going to turn down a day of rugby in the sun.

“I feel like I’ve had a bit of a stop-start season with Irish because I’ve had a few spells out with injuries but I’ve absolutely loved the last few weeks.”

Gibson is still midway through studying for a degree in Classics at Oxford University and says that his next big challenge will be organising how he completes his studies.

The England rookie added: “I decided to take some time out in January and I’m two-and-a-half years through a four-year course – I’ve got to sit down and decide what I’m going to do next.”