Saints ace Langdon 'buzzing' to be back in the England mix
Curtis Langdon overcame a ‘mental’ American night to grab his first international try and help fire England to their seventh win on the spin.
The Saints star was one of six try scorers as Steve Borthwick’s side beat the USA 40-5 to round off a summer clean sweep of victories on Saturday.
The match in the American capital kicked off an hour later than planned due to a lightning strike in the area, with the game then halted by a further half an hour on 29 minutes when another struck within 10 miles of the ground when England were 14-0 up.
Langdon has recently been catapulted into a newfound position of seniority after the 11th hour call-up of fellow hooker and captain Jamie George to the British & Irish Lions’ tour in Australia.
He lamented the number of fans who chose to depart during the lengthy delays but took huge pride from getting on the scoresheet at DC’s Audi Field.
“It was mental,” Langdon said.
“I got here and the stadium was full and I was thinking ‘brilliant, rugby in the USA could take off and be something massive.’
“But all these delays and people leaving the stadium was a shame.
“But that sad, but we handled it well – we have a good team around us and we dealt with it pretty well.
“There are some things to be happy about but it was scrappy in parts – greasy, sweaty and hard to keep hold of the ball.
“But we got the win and that’s the main thing – it’s a new group and brilliant to be out there.
“When Steve told me (that George was leaving), I was just buzzing to put the shirt back on.
“Steve’s really good in the sense that he backs us all, so it was easy enough.
“I knew my role – and was confident enough that I could come into the team and do a job.”
Langdon, Luke Northmore, Cadan Murley, Jack van Poortvliet, Harry Randall and debutant Gabriel Oghre all scored to make it three transatlantic wins from three following England’s impressive 2-0 series win in Argentina.
And it also extended England’s winning run to seven matches – their longest streak since back in 2020.
USA grabbed a late consolation through Shilo Klein to give the home fans who remained something to cheer about but England’s work was done as they ended their triumphant tour in style.
England will now enjoy their summer break before gearing up for crunch autumn internationals against the likes of Australia and New Zealand at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
And Langdon added: “It’s a real tight group.
“We’re going out there, wanting to work hard for each other, wanting to run for each other and win together in an England shirt.
“When you do that together, the feeling in the group is brilliant.”
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