IT’S VERSION 26 OF MY SQUAD!
England’s injury crisis gives tinkerman Eddie a selection headache
EDDIE 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. 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. On barnstorming No 8 Vunipola, Jones said he is highly unlikely to feature in the tournament at all and is set to miss 12 weeks withith his fractured arm.
By his return in April, Vunipola would have onlyy played four matches in 11 months after two knee injuries, shoulder surgery and his latest arm break. But Jones remains philosophical.
‘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.’
With James Haskell and Joe Marler also banned for the Italy and Wales matches, Jones has had to dig deep into his reserves. The squad shuffling sees Zach Mercer, Bath’s 21-year-old back-rower lose his ‘ apprentice’ status — Jones has set up a showdown between him and Exeter’s Sam Simmonds over the No 8 shirt for the Italy match on February 4. Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith remains listed as an apprentice.
It says something about the health of English rugby that with so many players unavailable and the likes of Premiership stars Olly Woodburn, Dan Robson, Don Armand, Danny Cipriani, Richard Wigglesworth and Manu Tuilagi not considered, Jones can still field a team that is regarded as favourites to win the Six Nations.
That is not how he sees it, however. Every bookmaker may have England listed as the most likely to triumph come March, but the 57-year-old Australian believes his back-to-back 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. As you’ve seen, we’ve got 13 players out. So we’ve got no hope.’
Perhaps this is Jones aiming to create a siege mentality around the squad, who travel to Portugal this weekend for a training camp after the final round of club European fixtures.
Certainly Jones is not laying any emphasis on the English clubs’ struggles in the Champions Cup, as the Irish flourish. ‘It doesn’t affect international form,’, he added. ‘There’s a distinct difference between club rugby and international rugby. While you always like your players to win, if they’re not successful at club level it doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful at international level. ‘ I don’t coach the clubs so I don’t care. The only thing I control is the international team.’ He does care about winning. Jones called England’s recent Six Nations form ‘small successes’, but he knows steering his side to three titles on the spin would be significant on the road to the World Cup — especially with such a depleted squad.