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...
National coach has named a slimmed-down training squad and omitted Joseph, Haskell and Sinckler, three of the summer’s British & Irish LionsFor every England rugby coach there are three steps to heaven: identify the best players, decide how to harness their collective talents and then pursue every available avenue to ensure they peak when it really matters. With 19 wins in his first 20 games in charge, Eddie Jones has made a confident start on the rocky ascent towards 2019, and his 33-man training squad for next week’s camp in Oxford represents the next phase of that climb. Related: Marcus Smith of Quins can be our X-factor rookie, says England’s Eddie Jones Related: Eddie Jones to name most of his...
Injury-plagued centre’s fresh scrape will reveal how much effort national coach is prepared to take with only player he believes can ‘rip apart’ All BlacksAt the end of a mediocre autumn Test series that caused no little concern considering it came less than a year before the 2015 World Cup, Stuart Lancaster was asked what could improve his England side. His answer, as so often the case with Lancaster, was to the point: “Manu”.Last week Eddie Jones was more effusive with his praise for the only England player capable of “ripping New Zealand apart” – a pointed remark considering the British & Irish Lions’ second Test victory against the All Blacks on 1 July. Jones described Manu Tuilagi as “worth...
Eddie Jones is looking for young players to force their way into his England team and Tom Curry impressed, as did the abrasive Ellis GengeConsidering that Eddie Jones has admitted to feeling “filthy” for more than a month after England’s defeat by Ireland, this stilted if spirited victory can at least be viewed as the start of the cleansing process.It was not the grand unveiling to the second phase of his master plan – eight uncapped starters and a feisty Barbarians side made sure it was never going to be – but winning is an addictive habit for Jones and he will care little that there was barely a sparkle in an exhibition match that tends to offer the promise...
With several teenagers, the list of 31 proves Eddie Jones is determined to unearth fresh contenders for his 2019 Rugby World Cup squad, players better than England’s 16 LionsThose who thought England’s Lions-depleted squad to tour Argentina would be a largely predictable list do not know Eddie Jones very well. Fifteen uncapped players will be heading to South America for two Tests in June, with Sale’s cross-code wing Denny Solomona and Auckland’s Piers Francis among some eye-catching inclusions in a 31-man party.Several of Jones’s picks are still in their teens. Sale’s 18-year-old twins Ben and Tom Curry are joined by two 19-year-olds in the Saracens lock Nick Isiekwe and the London Irish wing Joe Cokanasiga. Among other up-and-coming talents named...