Eddie Jones missed his pillar players against Argentina, while Wales got off to a typically slow start and Scotland showed the risks attached to their open rugbyOwen Farrell will return to the England team against Australia on Saturday; the question is where. Eddie Jones played Henry Slade at 12 against Argentina but with a lack of quick ball, the Exeter centre was a marginal figure. The head coach has the option of restoring Farrell to inside-centre and moving Slade to 13, where he has excelled for the Chiefs this season, or putting Farrell at 10 in place of George Ford, who is not at his most effective when weighed down with slow possession. The decision should be made in conjunction...
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...
Northern hemisphere countries hold the early cards but an almost-full-strength Australia will be confident having recently defeated New ZealandWith an experimental All Blacks side, a Jekyll and Hyde South Africa and a poor Argentina team it is fair to say Australia have breathed some much-needed life into the autumn internationals. Their recent win over New Zealand is a huge shot in the arm for them and it means their game at Twickenham is the pick of the whole autumn, though England and Ireland have every right to be confident of going unbeaten through November.The British & Irish Lions’ success in drawing their summer series is a big factor in that – of course, so is the fact that neither side...