Harlequins star keen to play for Springboks but won’t rule out England option
Harlequins full-back Tyrone Green.
Although he still dreams of playing for the Springboks at international level, Harlequins full-back Tyrone Green has not ruled out the possibility of pulling on an England shirt one day.
The 26-year-old was born and raised in South Africa, where he shone as a youth rugby player.
He was part of the South African Schools side in 2016 and also represented the country at U20 level in 2018 before going on to shine for the Lions in Super Rugby.
Shining at Harlequins
However, Green left the Lions in 2020 to join Harlequins, where he has done well and soon cemented his place in their senior team’s starting line-up.
He is yet to be capped by the Springboks at senior level and, while he still hopes to attain that goal, Green has not closed the door on representing England.
His decision to join Harlequins in 2020 means he will qualify to play for the Red Rose on residency in 2025.
“I think international rugby’s always going to be the goal, the Springboks from when I was young has always been the goal,” Green told The Standard.
“There’s lots of quality players in South Africa and the Springboks have been such a great team for such a long time.
“I’ll just keep performing to the best of my abilities and hopefully that’s enough to get me into the mix. I just need to keep going strong and then hopefully my performances can do the talking.
“I think I do qualify in about a year and a bit for England. Growing up the goal was the Springboks, and I’ll still push with everything I have to get there. But then in a year and a bit, that might be a decision I’ll have to make.
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“If when that time comes I don’t get a call from the Springboks and they are not interested, then that’s a decision I’d have to make at the time.
“That would obviously be an extremely tough decision, but then I’ll never close all avenues.
“International rugby is the highest level of sport, and I’m 27 next year, so that’s a decision that I will have to look at.”
Green will be a key player for Quins when they host Glasgow Warriors in their Champions Cup round-of-16 clash at Twickenham Stoop on Friday night. A victory for the Premiership outfit will see them hosting either Bordeaux-Begles or Saracens in their quarter-final.
‘Worked hard’ for home play-off
“We worked hard to get this home game, so now it’s about putting our right foot forward and throwing everything at a home quarter-final,” said Green.
“It would be big for us to get to that stage. It’s been a rollercoaster restart in the Premiership I think for all the teams.
“We were lucky to come out with the win in end against Bath, but we also played very well for 50 minutes. We’ve got to make sure we’re fully switched on throughout against Glasgow.
“It’s great that we bounced back after such a heavy defeat to Saracens, but then against Bath it ended up so tight.”
