Why bother, shrugs England boss Jones
EDDIE JONES believes his back-to-back Six Nations champions have been disregarded by some in the media who have tipped Ireland to triumph in the tournament. ‘We might as well not turn up,’ he said. ‘No-one thinks we can win the Six Nations so we have got an opportunity to hunt the other teams down. I don’t even know why we are having this press conference. ‘Ireland are dominating Europe, their sides are going well. They have this central contracting system that allows them to have their players at their peak,’ said the 57year-old. ‘As you’ve seen, we’ve got 13 players out. So we’ve got no hope.’ Jones revealed he pored over his Six Nations squad into the night as injuries and suspensions ravaged his plans. But even without 13 players he could have selected, the head coach believes England will be ready to ‘hunt down’ their championship rivals. ‘This is version 26 of the squad,’ he quipped. ‘I was still on it at 10.30pm last night. Finalising it. It has been one of the most difficult to put together because of the various situations with players. ‘But I’m really happy with it, excited by our prospects of doing well — particularly as we have been written off.’ Jones named eight uncapped players in his 35-man squad, including what he referred to as his ‘seventh and eighth choice’ loose-heads — Exeter’s Alec Hepburn, 24, and Harlequins’ Lewis Boyce, 21. He has a long list of absentees. James Haskell and Joe Marler are banned for the Italy and Wales matches Tom Curry (shoulder), Elliot Daly (ankle), Charlie Ewels (hamstring), Piers Francis (concussion), Ellis Genge (shoulder), Nathan Hughes (knee), Matt Mullan (torn triceps), Beno Obano (knee), Semesa Rokoduguni (shoulder), Will Spencer (ankle) — and crucially Billy Vunipola (arm) — are all out. Jones said the barnstorming No 8 is highly unlikely to feature in the tournament at all and is set to miss 12 weeks with his fractured arm. ‘Billy is having one of those runs,’ he said. ‘Why? No-one knows. He gets three major injuries in a row, before that he was playing 24 months’ worth of rugby without an injury. I’d rather this run now than in 2019.’