Injuries muddy the selection waters for Ireland game as Eddie Jones looks to resolve questions over England’s best teamWhat had been looking like the toughest selection of Eddie Jones’s three-year England tenure has once again been hijacked by events. The unavailability of Ben Te’o for the opening Six Nations Test has not merely blown a sizeable hole in the coach’s midfield strategy but dispelled any notion that, at last, England have uncovered the secret of keeping their best players fit.With Brad Shields and Joe Cokanasiga also unavailable to feature, the first England team announcement of the calendar year on Thursday is no longer quite as hard to predict as it might have been. That said, Jones still has some major...
Jones’s side look increasingly like their co-captain Farrell’s side as Saracens fly-half’s work-rate and fortitude prove keyThey have gussied up Twickenham, building a new swooping facade on the back of the old East Stand and a pair of wrought iron gates with the words to Jerusalem stencilled into them around the other side of the ground. It looks a little awkward, all these pretty little frills on those brutal old pressed concrete grandstands, with their exposed pipes and endless zigzag staircases; the stadium is an odd combination of ugly structures and fancy flourishes, as if it does not quite know what it is trying to be. At least it is finished, though, unlike the team who play there. Eddie Jones...
Eddie Jones may ration Dylan Hartley’s England appearances but when the hooker plays the key decisions will be hisWill co-captains lead to co-ckups? Eddie Jones was asked the question – though not in so many words – after announcing that Dylan Hartley and Owen Farrell will be England’s joint leaders until the end of the side’s involvement in the World Cup next year.Co-captains have become common in recent seasons: Jones put Chris Robshaw and George Ford in charge last year when England played the Barbarians at Twickenham but neither was considered a potential successor to Hartley, which made it easier for Jones to follow a path he has been reluctant to take. Related: New rugby union season makes Lions an...
England captain’s strident approach to the referee Roman Poite contrasted with the cool mien of South Africa’s Siya KolisiLeadership is one of sport’s intangibles. Eddie Jones caused a stir when he made Dylan Hartley his first captain, given the hooker’s less than exemplary disciplinary record, but it was an astute choice as England’s problems without him emphasise.England’s 2015 World Cup had ended after they had failed to engage with the French referees in their matches against Wales and Australia and one of Hartley’s qualities was getting officials to listen to him and he was always unfailingly polite and deferential. Owen Farrell was in one sense a natural successor to Hartley, a player who makes himself heard, but they are contrasting leaders....
The selection of both Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton signal positive intent from the Lions head coach and we can expect a more assertive approach in WellingtonThis has already proved an eventful British & Irish Lions tour in all kinds of ways but the most gripping 80 minutes may still be to come. If Warren Gatland’s team-sheet for the second Test carries no guarantee of success there is at least a genuine can-do feel about it. Gatland has clearly promised himself that, whatever transpires, he will give this series a real go.And, glory be, the 2017 Lions are going for it on Saturday. By pairing Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell at 10 and 12 they have sent the plainest of...