Eddie ready to ring changes for Les Bleus ‘slogathon’ at Stade de France
ENGLAND coach Eddie Jones has said “no one is indispensable” as he considers his options ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations clash away to France.
Jones said he rose at 4am on Monday, unable to find tactical solutions as he mulled over England’s 25-13 defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield last month.
“I always find it’s the best time to think. I don’t have anxiety, I just have thoughts about what we have to fix,” Jones, told reporters. “If you ask any coach who has coached at a high level they would say the same.”
With rain forecast at the Stade de France and the pitch invariably on the heavy side, Jones is not ruling out a “horses for courses” selection, which may involve changing his midfield combination of George Ford and Owen Farrell.
“I’m not wedded to anything,” the Australian added. “The players understand that. They’ve got to perform. Who plays at No 10 and 12 will be done on who we think is best for that game. We’re in a high performance environment... means you’ve got to perform. (If ) I lose one game I might be on flight QF1 back to Sydney. Who knows?
“We could pick a team to play a ‘slogathon’. They will be very physical and aggressive. (France coach) Jacques Brunel picks very big teams... we know what is going to come at us, we have just got to be good enough to stop it.”
The defeat to Scotland ended England’s hopes of securing a second grand slam in three years, but Jones is convinced it is just a blip rather than a start of a decline for his team.
“You don’t win 24 out of 26 games by doing a lot of things wrong,” he added. “We do a lot of things right, but we just went off course a little bit. We need to just put the ship back on course.”
England captain Dylan Hartley is doubtful for the game against Les Bleus while wing Jack Nowell and flank Sam Underhill have been ruled out due to injuries, British media reported yesterday.
Hartley is struggling with muscle tightness in his leg, Nowell rolled his ankle in training and Underhill has a toe problem.
“Dylan trained yesterday (Monday) and felt a bit of tightness afterwards. He reported that and the decision of the medical team is to monitor it daily,” forwards coach Steve Borthwick said. “I think we’ve got some great options.”
Hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie has been called into the squad along with prop Kyle Sinckler as cover for Harry Williams who is also experiencing muscle tightness.
Nowell is also likely to miss England’s final game against Ireland next Saturday, but Underhill could be fit for that match.
Meanwhile, the Western Force will play seven invitational matches against South Pacific and Asian national teams as well as Super Rugby opponents later this year as a precursor to billionaire mining tycoon Andrew Forrest’s World Series Rugby (WSR).
The Force were dumped from Super Rugby last year after a very public and bitter wrangle with Rugby Australia (RA) following a decision by governing body Sanzaar to cut three teams from the competition. The Cheetahs and Kings were also dumped and realigned with an expanded PRO14 in Europe, while the Force were cut after taking RA to court.
Forrest promised to introduce a new competition for the Force and then achieved RA support to introduce it. He said last October it would probably be delayed until 2019.
“The focus for 2018 is to reintroduce and reinforce professional rugby in Western Australia for the benefits of our grassroots community, our players and our fans,” Forrest said in a statement yesterday.
“In 2019, the WSR will evolve into a high-calibre, international competition with the goal of making rugby the community-building sport of Asia.”
The Force, whose professional players either retired, left the country or moved to the other four Australian franchises, will host all of the games in Perth.
They face Fiji and Tonga in May before playing Super Rugby sides the Melbourne Rebels and eight-times champions the Crusaders during the June international break. They also play Samoa in July and then Hong Kong and another unconfirmed opponent in August. – Reuters