Jamie George learned his rugby-fanatic mother, Jane, had contracted lung cancer the same day he was appointed England captain and said he wanted to beat Scotland in the Six Nations on Saturday in her memory after she died at the age of 68 last week.
George was named captain for the Six Nations campaign in mid-January and said the intervening weeks had been hectic as he shuttled between training camps and his mother's bedside.
"It's been really tough," he told reporters on Thursday. "I found out about her cancer diagnosis on the same day I found out I was going to be England captain, so that was a pretty mixed day.