A WORLD LEADER
Robshaw hails boss Jones as the very best in the business
FORGET Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho, Chris Robshaw reckons Eddie Jones is “the best man-manager” on the sporting planet.
The Harlequins flanker, whose international career looked doomed after leading his country to 2015 World Cup disaster, hails the forthright Aussie for instilling a ruthless streak that can help England conquer the globe.
Robshaw runs out in Rome today for his 60th cap wearing the No.7 jersey and hoping to strong-arm his side a step closer to completing a hat-trick of Six Nations titles.
The forward, 31, said: “Eddie is the best man-manager I have ever met. Every morning he will come in and speak to every single person.
“I have never had any head coach or director of rugby touch base with every single player in the room. He gives you that personal touch and knows how to get the best out of people.
“Some people may need a bit of a shouting at, others may need giving a bit of confidence and love.
He also has banter with the guys.
“It builds a special rapport.
“Eddie works us extremely hard simply because he wants to get the very best out of us. His mantra is that if we train at a very high intensity it will be easier once we play games.
“And that when you get to the final 10 minutes of games you are still making the right decisions and doing the right things. “The big difference at this stage before the World Cup is that we have gone unbeaten in tournaments, unbeaten in series and won some silverware. Unfortunately, before the last World Cup we never managed to enjoy that success.
“We were the nearly men with a few second places and couldn’t get a winning streak going. We didn’t have that ruthless streak. “But under Eddie we do have that ruthless streak which he has instilled in us.”
Jones is confident his side can make it three Six Nations titles on the bounce despite injuries to key men. And he urged prop Dan Cole to prove he is the best No.3 in world rugby.
PERSONAL TOUCH: England coach Jones
He said: “There are a number of players moving in the right direction. Mako (Vunipola), Maro (Itoje), Owen (Farrell) and Anthony Watson are all racing towards that and have a great opportunity to prove it in this tournament.
“Dan Cole is the premier tighthead in Europe. His body has changed. His scrum position improved and he’s at a great age, 31 going on 32, to be the top tighthead in the world. I think you will see him flourish in this Six Nations.”
England have never lost to Italy in 23 Tests and are still the only Six Nations rivals the Italians have yet to beat.
Worcester’s Ben Te’o partners Farrell in the centre after nearly a year’s absence. First and second-choice
No.8s Billy Vunipola and Nathan Hughes are injured, so Exeter’s Sam Simmonds wins his fourth cap.
Leicester’s Ben Youngs wins his 56th cap and overtakes Matt Dawson with the most starts for an England half-back. Danny Care can also equal Dawson’s
77 caps as England’s most capped No.9 if he comes off the bench.
Youngs said: “Matt is a World Cup winner and we all remember what he did on the 1997 Lions tour when he threw that dummy and ran over for the try. He has obviously been an England great and someone I looked up to as a player.”
England team to face Italy: M Brown, A Watson, B Te’o, O Farrell, J May, G Ford, B Youngs, M Vunipola, D Hartley, D Cole, J Launchbury, M Itoje, C Lawes, C Robshaw, S Simmonds Replacements: J George, A Hepburn, H Williams, G Kruis, S Underhill, D Care, J Joseph, J Nowell