Jones ready to put his fringe men in spotlight

ENGLAND are set to ring the changes for Saturday’s clash with France having booked their place in the quarter-finals with a game to spare. Eddie Jones will freshen up his squad before the knockout stages, with several star players likely to be given a rest. There could also be injury-enforced changes, after Billy Vunipola twisted his ankle during Saturday’s win over Argentina. Asked if he would select the same 23 to face France, Jones answered: ‘I doubt very much. I think we can improve the team. That’ll be the challenge: how can we improve the team? We want to get better. We’ll have a look at selection and pick the best 23 to get better next week. At this stage, I’ll be looking to pick our best 23. ‘Now, our best 23 may be different from your best 23. We are 15 points from three games. We are where we need to be and we haven’t played to our best yet — which is good, because we’ve got growth.’ Jones’ cryptic answer suggests that he could use the Test as a chance to give more World Cup exposure to players like Lewis Ludlam, Joe Cokanasiga and Ruaridh McConnochie. The match will be a battle for first place in Pool C, with the winner likely to face Australia, rather than Wales, in the last eight. ‘The permutations don’t concern me,’ said the England coach. Meanwhile, Jones is likely to remain in Japan this week after being unable to find suitable flights to attend the funeral of his friend and former coach Jeff Sayle in Australia.