EDDIE JONES showed us his best hand, now it’s time to bring out the wildcards.
Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes were outstanding in the engine room as England broke their ten-year Springboks curse with a 37-21 victory.
They stepped in for injured pair Maro Itoje and George Kruis and underlined the fact that Jones has high-rolling heavyweights ready for action when the chips are down.
And try-scoring winger Jonny May shortened his odds of starting just his second Test of the year against Fiji this weekend after a year out.
But tucked away at the bottom of the deck at England’s Pennyhill Park training base are more England jokers who could be trump cards against the Pacific Islanders.
Just like World Cup winners New Zealand, the Red Rose boss does not want just a couple of reserves.
He wants to find out who his third, fourth and fifth-placed players are in every position before the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
But the Aussie will not give caps away for rookies like Nathan Hughes, Semesa Rokoduguni, Henry Slade, Ellis Genge, Kyle Sinckler, Teimana Harrison and Ben Te’o.
Jones, 56, said: “I want people to deserve their opportunity. To start for England has to be the proudest thing of their lives and to do that you have to earn it.
“There are a few players that have earned it and they will get it.
“We want to keep improving the team so there are guys I want to have a look at who I think may be better than the guys I have in now.
“But I’m only going to select people who are better than what we have at the moment — or potentially can be better.”
It is still long odds on Wasps’ Fijian-born back-row giant Nathan Hughes, starting his first game — but that should not be the case. Hughes, 25, was the Premiership’s forward of the year in 2015 and is a devastating carrier.
A back-row containing Hughes and Billy Vunipola would be hell for opposing half-backs.
Openside Chris Robshaw is central to how the team tick at the moment — and no one would have said that 12 months ago.
But his Harlequins team-mate Sinckler is another dynamic forward ready to be released and should be paired with
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Quins’ Joe Marler in a front row packed with grunt and Sinckler’s gainline-busting speed.
Mako Vunipola is the best loosehead in the world right now. So let us see if Marler really has his Test appetite back.
In the backs, last season’s Premiership player of the year Alex Goode is still waiting to start a game under Jones, largely thanks to the form of full-back Mike Brown.
Owen Farrell and George Ford are untouchable and Elliot Daly did enough in his first start on Saturday to keep Jonathan Joseph on the bench for another week at least.
But Bath flier Semesa Rokoduguni is the league’s in-form winger and is likely to replace Marland Yarde.
So, my team to face Fiji would be: Goode, Rokoduguni, Daly, Farrell, May, Ford, Youngs; Marler, Hartley (c), Sinckler, Launchbury, Lawes, Robshaw, Harrison, Hughes.
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