His strength is in his demeanor, and it absolutely gets under t

Saracens England contingent have been compared with Manchester Uniteds Class of 92 -- and George Kruis believes the same sense of brotherhood is developing among Eddie Jones men.The analogy was made by Paul Gustard, who played and coached at Allianz Park before being appointed as one of Jones lieutenants, enabling him to view and contribute to the development of players such as Kruis, Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and Mako Vunipola.Saracens marched to an Aviva Premiership and European double last season and Gustard sees a similarity to their core of English players and the contribution of Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and the Neville brothers to Uniteds dominance of club football on these shores.People spoke about the Class of 92 at Manchester United, well Saracens had their own class, Gustard said.Once one started achieving there was enough peer pressure that they all wanted to out-perform each other and strive to do things together. They are a close group.Kruis, who is expected to be selected in the second row alongside Courtney Lawes when England name their team to face Argentina on Thursday, insists the bond is not confined to Saracens.Definitely theres a sense that, as a group, weve got responsibility for each other, Kruis said. When you have five or six players coming through together its like that competition between brothers. It always pushes you a little bit further.Weve got a good respect for each other which means you have to turn up each week and ultimately play well for each other. At Saracens its dragged a lot of people along with us. Were a very young team still, with a hell of a lot of experience. Its exciting for us.I think it extends to England, I really do. If you look at what England have tried to build here, then there are a lot of similarities here between club and country.If you look at results there are a lot of similarities as well. Youve got to breed a culture in which people want to improve and constantly push each other.Kruis travelled between Saracens and England for his rehabilitation and has made the quickest possible comeback from the ankle surgery that threatened to rule him out of the entire autumn program.Just over five weeks separate the 26-year-old from undergoing the procedure to lining up against Argentina.I never gave up playing in these games. I just wanted to get back to playing as soon as I could for either club or country, Kruis said.There were few things wrong with the ankle. There was a bit of wear and tear and for the last year, there were two bits of floating bone in the joint.Id been able to play on but more recently its been shutting down, so after the Toulon game, I spoke to both parties and we decided I needed to get it taken out as soon as possible.Before I was struggling with it -- I could do the session but Id want to get off my feet as soon as possible. I am really glad Ive done it. Ive got lots of confidence in the ankle now. I woke up 2 or 3 days after the op and thought it already feels better, the pressure in the foot feels less.When considering an immediate return to the starting XV, Kruis draws inspiration from Farrells man of the match comeback for Saracens against Toulon having been out for almost three months.We are in an environment now where you can push yourself in the weeks leading up to it as much as you can. Weve got everything available to be in peak condition, Kruis said.Youve got Owen Farrell who played in the Toulon game, which was pretty much Test match intensity, having had months off. He came back very sharp.Things like that give you a lot of confidence. Youve got to have a lot of confidence in yourself. If I didnt feel right, I wouldnt be here. Wholesale Yeezy Shop . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Wholesale Yeezy China . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. https://www.yeezychina.us/ . They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. Cheap Yeezy Free Shipping . With his new coach and six-time Grand Slam singles champion Boris Becker watching him during an official match for the first time, Djokovic appeared tentative early against the Slovakian player, who often appeared content to keep the ball in play. Fake Yeezy Online . -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be out for roughly four weeks after tearing his left hamstring. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jimmie Johnsons quest to win a record-tying seventh championship has been burning for nearly three years at Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson wants that title. Chad Knaus wants that title. Rick Hendrick wants that title.Oh, how easy it would be for No. 48 team to coast through the next two weeks, to look only at the Nov. 20 season finale and the opportunity they have to reach the top of NASCAR.They wont. This is cant stop, wont stop time and these guys are on a mission.And in this year of the ho-hum playoffs, it may be the storybook ending NASCAR needs.Johnson, the most celebrated driver of the last 15 years, won his ninth race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday to lock down a spot in NASCARs final four. He has not been in this position under the elimination format introduced before the 2014 season, when Johnson was still celebrating his sixth title.The drive for (hash)Se7en -- the moniker hes used on Twitter the last two-plus seasons -- sputtered out early the last two years. And even through a long stretch of this season, Johnson hardly seemed to be a legitimate contender as the Hendrick cars struggled to keep pace with Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske and Kevin Harvick.There was a period of 15 races this year where Johnson had just three top-five finishes. Hendrick was far from pleased. The boss sent his cars to the wind tunnel, became a constant sight to his drivers and teams. Everyone turned it up a notch, and Hendrick could see the turnaround coming together.Sometimes youre not as good as you look, youre not as bad as you look, Hendrick said. I dont think we were as bad. Now, we were pretty terrible back April, May. We started picking up speed, getting to the front, leading some laps.I felt like we could be at Homestead, but theres no guarantee. There are a whole lot of people in the garage that thought theyd be at Homestead that wont be at Homestead.Once Johnson won at Charlotte to advance into the third round, the first time he had made it this far in the Chase, he became a sudden lock for Homestead. Hes great at Martinsville, has won the last four November races at Texas, and has an average finish of 7.8 at Phoenix. But he locked his championship spot down in the first race of this segment, and now has the luxury to coast for two weeks.Knaus had yet to wring the champagne out of his firesuit following Sundays victory before he was already contemplating a strategy.ddddddddddddWe need to now sit back, look at our car allocation and make sure that were taking the best product that we possibly can to Homestead, he said. When I get to the shop, were going to get together, look at what it is weve got, we may make a quick decision, maybe make a change.But he cautioned that doesnt mean hell order Johnson to cruise around Texas and Phoenix. It means they are in such good shape, they can play with the field for two weeks.This is what the No. 48 team does to opponents. It kicks its program into another gear and saps all the energy out of its opponents. Jeff Gordon saw it firsthand in 2007 when he was racing his teammate for the title. When he thought he had Johnson on the ropes, Johnson strung together four consecutive victories in the Chase to put Gordon away.When Johnson grabbed that fourth win, Gordon -- the greatest driver of a generation -- went to victory lane and bowed to his teammate.His strength is in his demeanor, and it absolutely gets under the skin of his opponents. Hes so cool and calm in public, tries always to be a professional. His attempt to extinguish a potential fire with Harvick last year at Chicago led Harvick to punch him in the chest before Johnson had even said a word.When he didnt get out of Denny Hamlins way fast enough Sunday at Martinsville, Hamlin moved him and loudly complained about Johnson on his team radio.Asked about it after the race, Johnson literally laughed out loud.Im puzzled that he had to move me like he did, Johnson said. I just cant roll over. I prefer to race people cleanly. I could have easily taken the easy route and moved him when he came back to take over the lead, and I didnt. I hope that showed him that, `Look, man, I dont have a beef.Man, Im out there to win. We got points on the line. We got a championship in the line. I got accused of racing hard? Ill take that as a compliment.Johnson has been to Homestead nine times before with a chance to win the title. He delivered six times. The situation will be different this year; all drivers will be even and the highest finisher will claim the title.Johnson hopes to show the next two weeks that hes untouchable and nobody stands a chance in this drive for (hash)Se7en. ' ' '