Of hard graft could secure England spot

every day, digs the coal, gets it up, the people manufacture it and then we have a lovely burning fire,” said Jones. “He is a good hard worker who gets on with the job every day.”

Devon-born Moon (right), who has been with the Chiefs since coming through the ranks a decade ago, has no intention of amending his on-field persona in order to try to compensate for the all-round, ballcarrying game of Vunipola.

“If you go out there trying to play someone else’s game you won’t be good at what you are doing, so it is about concentrating on what I have been doing,” said Moon, who does not feel underplayed by Jones’s categorisation of him. “I’ll take it as a compliment. Everyone’s different, that’s the beauty of rugby. You’ve got guys who carry the ball 15-20 times in a game, others who will hit 30 odd rucks in n a game.

“Whatever Eddie ie sees in me, I’m happy to take that role. Obviously, set-piece e is any prop’s bread and butter but I also enjoy the he defensive side, making king tackles and giving ing good ball for the he team. [ Vunipola’s a’s absence] is an opporportunity for me to push on from the time I got in the autumn. I don’t want to look at it as just stepping in. I definitely nitely want to stake a claim.” im.” Moon showed against the Springboks that he can deliver open open-play play pu punch when stopping South Africa Africa’s No 8, Duane Vermeulen, in his tracks. “The big shots are th the ones that you enjoy,” he sa said. “It gives you and the tea team a good feeling.” En England will need all the upbeat vibes they ca can muster to take on W Wales on home turf with a run of 11 successive victories fu fuelling those Principality Stadium roars. Moon h has only been to the stadium o once: as a youngster with his father fa to attend a testimonial ga game years ago.

There is no doubt that the MoonGenge axis offers England options, given their different skill-sets.

“We saw over the autumn that Moon is a glue player who does his basics well which allows the rest of the team to operate around him,” England scrum coach Neal Hatley said. “Ben’s set-piece during the autumn was good. He defended exceptionally well. We all saw the hit on Vermeulen. We’re pleased with the way he has come through.

“Ellis is aggressive in the scrummage, is explosive in open play and has a good ball-carrying threat moving off the line quickly.”

Moon has grafted for his chance and is relishing the prospect of coming up against Francis. “We do a lot of live scrummaging at Sandy Park so throughout the season we’re forever packing down against each other,” said Moon, intent on making the most of this opportunity late in his career.

“Once you are creeping towards 30 you think maybe that the chance [of playing for England] has passed you by so my focus was playing well for Exeter. But for whatever reason, your chance can come.”

The chances of Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny facing England look to have been ended after he was ruled out of Scarlets action this weekend. The 30-year-old was released back to Scarlets this week, but has not been considered for today’s Pro 14 trip to Benetton.