Jones plans to educate squad on ‘difficulties’ in Japan
Eddie Jones will relocate one of England’s training camps to Japan next year to educate his squad as to “how difficult a place this [country] can be”.
The England head coach is already involved in arrangements to use one of the British Olympic Association’s 2020 bases in Tokyo during the World Cup in 2019. As he checked out of his hotel in Kyoto yesterday morning following the tricky draw handed to England the previous day, Jones was bound for
Kobe to run the rule over other facilities, with one of his own favourite sites in Miyazaki also on the wishlist, all part of the master plan to make his team “bullet-proof ”, as he terms it, prior to the tournament that begins in September 2019. If there is one key advantage that England have over their opponents in Pool C, it is that Jones is way ahead of the pack in knowing what it takes to perform in Japan.
Jones has Japanese roots himself, a Japanese wife and spent six years battling the system when coaching Suntory Sungoliath, then taking the national side to their extraordinary high point in the 2015 World Cup.
Jones is well aware that conditions in Japan, be it the weather, the language or the way of life, can be a destabilising factor. And that is why he will send support staff over here to acclimatise themselves.
“I know how difficult this place can be,” said Jones. “If you get things right it can be a real joy and my challenge is to get our staff to believe that. They will get incredibly frustrated at times because people say yes to you when they mean no. That’s the reality. No one says no to you, it’s always yes. But when they say yes three times, yet nothing happens, then that means it’s a no. That frustration can build up and what we need to make sure is that we create an environment where the players are comfortable with that situation.
“Everything’s going to be different. You can’t expect it to be the same as a western tournament. I’m married to a Japanese woman. My wife is never organised but she always gets things done and that’s how it is. It seems chaotic and all of a sudden everything happens and it works.
“You have to look at the country’s history. Look at what happened in World War Two and now they’re the third biggest economy in the world. That’s unbelievable
industrialism. They get things done.”
The immersion process will cover all aspects, including the vast difference in the weather they might experience as the tournament progresses from September into the later stages in October. Jones the meteorologist is on top of that brief, too.
“You could see upsets if teams do not take notice of the difference and adapt,” said Jones. “There will be two different types of weather. It gets so humid and wet here in late September. It’s almost impossible to hang on to the ball. In October the weather’s beautiful – warm, dry, 22C – so the game will change. I suspect the early part of the tournament will be stop-start and kicking-orientated. The rest of the tournament will be about scoring in many different ways. I can guarantee you we’ll be prepared. There’s sports science ways of preparing and psychological ways. You need to make sure your players have endured it before so they’re ready for it. Your body feels different.”
Jones has yet to make up his mind as to when the camp might take place. Scheduling a game has been ruled out due to the restrictive demands of the calendar.