JONES COUNTS ON WHIZZ KIDS
Adam HATHAWAY
EDDIE JONES revealed he took a leaf out of the former Baby-faced Assassin’s book when he revamped his England squad and got down with the kids last week. The England boss is mates with Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and he visited Manchester United’s training ground in August and saw the Reds in action when they stayed at one of England’s bases, Pennyhill Park in Bagshot, during pre-season.
As a player Solskjaer, 48, was given the nickname for his boyish looks – and Jones’ new group certainly has a fresh-faced look about it.
Out went seasoned players such as Mako Vunipola, George Ford and Jamie George as Jones named eight uncapped players and 10 who made their debuts in the summer as part of a 45-man training group for a three-day camp in Teddington starting today.
Among those, Leicester full-back Freddie Steward, 20, and Sale prop Bevan Rodd – 21 and yet to play a Test – are tipped to make it to the 2023World Cup in France.
And Jones admits he is impressed by United’s youth policy, which has churned out players like Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood.
He said: “We’ve drawn a line in the sand.we’ve got two years until the next World
Cup and if we kept the same team it would be too old by that time.
“We know that, so we’ve needed to refresh the team.we’ve tried to do that in a systematic way, where the players earn their caps.
“Certainly I like what Ole’s done at
Man United in getting back to the
DNA of the club, which is about producing young players.
“But a national team is different from a club team.a national team is about picking the right players at the right time – and that’s what we’ve got to get right.”
Steward and Co might be new kids on the block but Jones’ new assistant, Richard Cockerill, has been around the block more than once.
The former hooker joins Aussie Anthony Seibold, South African Matt Proudfoot and former rugby league star Martin Gleeson as Jones’ henchmen.
And Jones revealed
Cockerill’s colleagues got a taste of what the ex-england hooker is about when they saw a video of him eyeballing fearsome All Black front-rower Norm Hewitt before a Test match in 1997.
Cockerill was carpeted by team-mate Martin Johnson for poking the bear before the game. And Jones added: “He has got a fine record.ten years at Leicester as a coach, three or four years at Edinburgh, he has won trophies at Leicester and he has been everything from driver of the bus to director of rugby at Leicester.
“He has got a good spectrum of experience and he is a proud Englishman.
“When we introduced him at the coaches’ meeting, one of the others got up a clip of him and the Haka when he went up to big Norman Hewitt and fronted him.
“I can’t repeat what Johnson said to him.”