‘It’s not rugby by numbers’

EDDIE Jones insists he will continue to challenge convention after releasing his England players from the obligations of their “archaic” jersey numbers.

Australia were dispatched 3215 at Twickenham on Saturday to maintain the winning start to Jones’ ‘New England’ project, although it took until the 74th minute to extinguish the resistance of a dogged Wallabies side.

A feature of the Cook Cup clash was players operating out of position with Manu Tuilagi, Henry Slade and Freddie Steward frequently relocating to different parts of the back line.

Tuilagi popped up at outside centre rather than wing, Slade patrolled the backfield despite starting at 13 and Steward often took Tuilagi’s place out wide rather than perform his full-back duties.

And the shape shifting extended to the playmaking axis of fly-half Marcus Smith and inside centre Owen Farrell as Farrell repeatedly functioned as first receiver.

“We were always going to mix and match but unfortunately we’ve got to put fixed numbers on their backs,” Jones said.

“I’d prefer in rugby if we went to the basketball system where players could pick a number at the start of the year and that’s their number.

“Even if you put them in their traditional numbers it’s very rare that 12 passes to a 13 who passes to the wingers.

“The combinations are all different and the game has become a lot more fluid and transitional.

“As you saw against Australia, there was a strong set-piece contest and then a lot of transitional play. Numbers are fairly archaic.”

England raced out of the blocks in the second of this autumn’s three matches with Farrell and Smith combining beautifully to send Steward sprinting over, but the match became an arm-wrestle and their attack suffered as a result.