Jones looks to class of 2003 for inspiration
England coach meets Johnson and Larder Australian plays down Scotland’s resurgence
Eddie Jones has revealed he wants to tap into the experience of more of England’s 2003 World Cup winners, including former captain and manager Martin Johnson, as part of his mission to repeat their triumph at the tournament in Japan in 2019.
The England head coach has also questioned the hype surrounding Scotland’s resurgence with the Six Nations on the horizon.
Jones has already involved Jonny Wilkinson and Will Greenwood in training sessions, and appointed Richard Hill as his team manager in September last year. The Australian revealed he had also recently talked to Johnson and Phil Larder, England’s defence coach in 2003, and intends to draw on the knowledge and experience of
Sir Clive Woodward and his coaching team.
“I went up to Huddersfield three weeks ago and had dinner with Phil Larder,” said Jones, who was crowned World Rugby’s coach of the year in Monte Carlo on Sunday, becoming the first English coach to have won the award since Woodward. “I have met Martin Johnson. We get Greenwood in. Jonny [Wilkinson] comes in regularly.”
Jones said he did not envisage giving Johnson a formal role in his set-up but, because of his status within English rugby, added: “If the right opportunity came we would use him.” As for the meeting with Larder, Jones said it proved a valuable insight as he enters the final phase of building the 31-man squad he will take to Japan. “I learned what they did in terms of building that team. The environment is different but there are principles we can learn from.”
Jones revealed that he would even consider tapping into winning experiences of players such as Richie Mccaw, who captained the All Blacks to World Cup triumphs in 2011 and 2015. “We will bring in anyone who we think can help, but it has to be in line with our values.”
Jones described England as being in the “World Cup zone”, with every coaching decision taken to ensure the squad arrive in Japan in the best possible condition to win the Webb Ellis Trophy. That included switching the pre-match hotel from Syon Park to the Clayton Hotel in Chiswick before last Saturday’s Samoa game, to replicate the experience during World Cup pool stages in Japan, when England will have a four-day turnaround in their first two matches, against Tonga and the United States.
“We did a lot of things in November that are going to help us in the World Cup,” said Jones, who was a coaching consultant with South Africa when the Springboks won the 2007 World Cup in France. “We ran two different training weeks. We put the players in a hotel [ahead of last Saturday’s victory] which two nights before they had never stayed in, to give them that experience of having to adapt and cope.
“You just have to keep moving towards it. The only thing that is going to count is how we arrive at the World Cup.”
One of his priorities is to develop more strong characters through the core of his squad, and he took heart from his side’s ability to alter their game plan at half-time during the mixed performance in the final autumn Test against Samoa.
“The players worked out at halftime what we had to do. Although it wasn’t perfect, the side worked things out themselves and I thought our second half was pretty emphatic. I really enjoyed that.”
The prospect now looms of a fascinating encounter with a resurgent Scotland at Murrayfield in February, as England seek to make history by becoming the first side to win the Five or Six Nations title outright for three years in a row. Scotland claimed a record win over Australia last Saturday and ran New Zealand close the week before, but Jones appears to be relishing the challenge of facing them.
“Remember before we played them last year they were being talked up as the best team in Europe so let’s just wait and see,” he said.