Jones riding an emotional roller coaster

EDDIE JONES admitted he was feeling emotional after naming his team for England’s World Cup opener here tomorrow.

A man normally known for being brash and bullish briefly appeared emotional when asked what it means to him to take charge of England at this showpiece in the Far East.

‘It’s humbling,’ he said, welling up. ‘It’s a great honour to coach England... and... I just want to make sure I do my best.’

For all of his top-level experience, it appears Jones is not immune to the emotional toll of his high-stakes role.

‘World Cups are always emotional,’ he said. ‘You get to do something that is pretty special — to coach a nation and to be responsible for a nation when you know it’s not just rugby fans watching.

‘It becomes an event for the country. To be involved in that is a real honour. I’m massively nervous and hugely excited. If I didn’t have that feeling, I’d be worried. Because you don’t know.

‘The one thing we don’t control is the result. We control the preparation and every coach out here all thinks they’ve done a great job preparing their team, but we don’t know, do we?

‘I love it. If I didn’t, I’d have a job where I could catch the bus at 8 o’clock every morning, wear the same suit, take a briefcase and have my packed lunch.

‘I could do that and I’d probably do it pretty well, but I love this — you work really hard to prepare a team and then you don’t know what is going to happen.’

Jones named a strong side yesterday. Put aside the absence of Mako Vunipola, who is in the final stage of his recovery from a hamstring injury, and it is arguably England’s best line-up for the Pool C opener against Tonga.

Jones will, however, be mindful of how his players cope mentally with the tasks ahead — how they handle so much expectation and pressure. He compared their predicament to a trip to a theme park.

‘The World Cup is like a roller coaster,’ he said. ‘We are at the top of the ride now, looking down.

‘Everyone’s nervous, everyone’s excited. You get down the first slope and you are not sure if you are going to throw up or hang on.

‘You’ve got to adapt to that because there’s going to be some turns, there’s going to be some accidents, there’s going to be some fun.

‘We want to enjoy all those things that come along and the team is equipped to handle it.’ ENGLAND: E Daly; A Watson, M Tuilagi, O Farrell (capt), J May; G Ford, B Youngs; J Marler, J George, K Sinckler, C Lawes; M Itoje, T Curry, S Underhill, B Vunipola.

Replacements: L Cowan-Dickie, E Genge, D Cole, G Kruis, L Ludlam, W Heinz, H Slade, J Joseph.

TONGA: D Halaifonua; A Pakalani, S Piutau, C Vuna, V Lolohea; K Morath, S Takulua; S Fisiihoi, S Sakalia, B Tameifuna, S Lousi, H Fifita, S Kalamafoni, Z Kapeli, M Vaipulu.

Replacements: S Maile, L Talakai, M Fia, D Faleafa, N Mau, L Fukofuka, J Faiva, N Tu’itavake.