Eddie’s shock ‘exit’ from the England tour

EDDIE JONES challenged his young guns to go from ‘back-benchers to Prime Ministers’ on the Argentina tour. And he shocked the players in camp yesterday by setting up a meeting, then leaving the room without saying a word. He wants to find new leaders in a group which contains 18 uncapped players. Jones’ quick exit was all part of that plan. ‘They are the sort of things we are doing to constantly develop the leadership of the players, to develop their thinking, develop more responsibility,’ he said. ‘Be a participant, don’t be a recipient. It’s our great belief that to be a World Cup-winning team you need to be a participant. ‘There might be some different players but this is still England and we want the players to be selfdriven, self-reliant. We have got to trust the players and allow them to fail — there is nothing wrong with failing. There are opportunities here for people to jump from back-bencher to Prime Minister.’ Saracen Alex Lozowski and Bath’s Charlie Ewels have impressed, helping run the defence and lineout respectively. And vice-captain George Ford said: ‘Eddie is driving for us taking control of everything we do.’ The first Test is on Saturday.