Flutey: Wasps will help my England career
Riki Flutey says rejoining Wasps has given him a better chance of getting back into the England team.
The centre and fly-half player rejoined the London club this summer after making only nine appearances last season at Brive in France. He says he jumped at the chance to move back to Wasps and hopes the
club will strengthen his chances of an England place.
He said: "The support from the coaching staffs, the medical staff, the fitness team, the work ethic of the players and of course the fans are all brilliant and that’s why I had no hesitation in coming
back. I do see my best position at 12, that’s the role I see myself fighting for in the England squad and if I can get game time at 12 with Wasps then I’ll be really happy."
Flutey has made 12 appearances for England since 2008 and has scored 20 points in the process. He has been in and out of Martin Johnson's plans and will be targeting the Tests against New Zealand as a
chance to impress.
Flutey is a quality player and has a lot of skill that will help him fulfil his international ambitions. However, he needs to settle down and be effective for Wasps first.
A quality player
Flutey is very quick and athletic, which makes him ideal in the middle of the pitch. He is big enough to tackle and challenge as a centre but he can adapt and be more creative at fly-half.
He will be full of anger and energy after a difficult season in France. Playing nine games over a whole season is a very low number for any professional and Flutey will attack the Premiership.
Flutey played 45 times for Wasps during his first spell at the club. The stint between 2007 and 2009 allowed him to gain experience of the club, which means he should settle back in very quickly. It guarantees
he won't need time to adapt to the English game.
Club before country
Martin Johnson has a bigger selection of England players to choose from than ever before. The only way Flutey will get Johnson's attention is by playing well at club level.
He cannot take anything for granted because there are a number of talented English players who can play at both centre and fly-half. Flutey needs to focus on maintaining the momentum he has created over
Wasps' first two games of this season despite the club's poor performances.
He added: "I managed to watch a few of the games from the summer tour to Australia and was very impressed. We’ve [England] got huge strength in depth throughout the squad which is fantastic. It keeps everyone
on their toes knowing that if you’re not at your best someone will happily take your place."
Betting advice
Wasps has not enjoyed a great start to the Premiership season. The club sits in 11th place with only two points on the board. This shows that Flutey has not had a huge impact over the first two games.
However, he is one of the more attacking players in the team and is a very good candidate to score at any time in any game. If he plays at fly-half then there's a good chance he'll have the kicking role,
which will mean more opportunities to score points.
Wasps is going to be hard pushed to make the top four this season because of the quality and standard of other sides in the Premiership. The better option is to back the team match by match or focus on
players such as Flutey who are likely to have a big impact in games.
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