'Armchair athletes' berate Arundell's seriously impressive bench press

Following England’s display against Italy on Saturday it has become clear that Borthwick is looking for his players to play with a certain amount of ferocity and intensity as they look to gel together ahead of this year’s World Cup in France.

The English boys ended up as 31-14 victors over an Italian side currently showing plenty of promise heading into a new era of Azzurri rugby. England’s three tries in the first half came as a direct result of rolling malls, benefiting the hard-working forwards as they trundled over the line. This explosive power has no doubt been worked on in training and in the gym as the pack looked unstoppable from close quarters.

Despite not being a part of the forward pack, Henry Arundell has been displaying some impressive talents of his own with a bench press that many could only dream of. Despite being just 20 years of age, the 6 ft (1.83) fullback weighs in at just under 100 kg and can bench press a mammoth 140 kg for 3 reps, an effort that very few can honestly achieve.

Despite the impressiveness of this achievement, it hasn’t stopped the ‘armchair athletes’ from metaphorically jumping out of their chairs to argue the opposite.

One ‘expert’ that was quickly debunked claimed the following: “Gym work is important. But three reps is totally pointless. If they are looking to strengthen then reps of six to eight and three to five sets”. Other fans were quick to point out that the professional Strength and Conditioning Coach may have a better idea when it comes to explosive strength than the person commenting.

While others complained that they cared less about the player’s achievements in the gym than they did out on the pitch, there were certain fans sticking up for Arundell and the process the England team are going through.

“Yayyy England fans do it again, some of these comments are just embarrassing when you have a beer gut and get out of breath running up the stairs “