Minus the man who carries the ball so much, Eddie Jones’s midfielders found they couldn’t get into the game against Argentina as much as they’d likeAll the talk in the buildup to the start of England’s autumn internationals was how they would perform without Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje. But the biggest miss for Eddie Jones was Billy Vunipola.Eddie was spot on when he said England just didn’t click, but while I thought a lack of cohesion would be understandable there was a fair bit more of it than I expected. And Vunipola’s absence is massive in that respect. Billy is such a huge focal point for England in terms of go-forward. He gives you 15-20 carries a game, it’s...
Australia can be stopped at Twickenham only if a reshuffle by the hosts brings dynamism to a team so ponderous against ArgentinaTo say the weekend’s other games in Cardiff, Dublin and Paris put England’s opening autumn effort into sharp perspective is the understatement of the season. When Eddie Jones called it “a grindathon” he was being generous and the contest with Australia on Saturday will end unhappily unless his team show more dynamism up front and locate some rhythm behind. The frustrated head coach’s blunt second-half outburst – “How fucking stupid are we?” – did not bode well, either.As anyone who stayed awake long enough will testify there was, literally, a yawning gap between England’s pre‑match rhetoric and what they...
Bath’s No7 looked the real deal for his country on his debut at Twickenham with some huge early hits but Eddie Jones will want more from him at the breakdownA cold, sorry November Saturday, and at Twickenham a first gathering of the clan since the Six Nations, and that 13-9 defeat to Ireland at the Aviva Stadium. The crowd’s enthusiasm was unaffected by the late morning weather, a steady, dismal drizzle, the kind that soaks you through without you even really noticing that you’re getting wet.All the talk around the ground, now, speculation about exactly where England stand, back-and-forths over whether Dylan Hartley should still be skipper or Jamie George starting at hooker instead, who should play at lock, and...
The end-of-year internationals were once viewed in isolation but these days every match is a station on a train trip that ends at the 2019 World CupPossession is once again nine 10ths of the score. A decade that started with teams scared of being caught in possession has relented: the ball is spending more time in hands than in the air and fireworks this November should explode beyond the fifth of the month.Rugby moves in cycles with fashions not so much changing as re-emerging after a vacation. When Eddie Jones was in charge of Australia in the 2000s, they were the masters of taking play through any number of phases, 30 or 40 at a time, waiting for the opposition...
After the draw in Kyoto there are tantalising opportunities available to Scotland, Ireland and Wales if they get to Japan in good shape come late 2019There are two years and four months still to go until Japan’s 2019 Rugby World Cup kicks off but at least one leading nation is already doomed to catch the bullet train to premature oblivion. While some tough early pool games can occasionally prove to be helpful in the later stages, England will be fooling no one if they insist a grouping with France and Argentina is exactly what they always wanted.Bill Beaumont, the former England captain who pulled his own country’s name out of the pot, can expect precious few congratulatory messages from home. England...