Cricket World Cup win can inspire us to success in Japan, says George

Hooker believes rugby squad can learn from how Eoin Morgan’s side overcame poor results

Ahumiliating groupstage exit at the 2015 World Cup; a prolonged bout of recriminations and soul-searching; the replacement of a domestic head coach with an Australian and then

a corresponding upturn in fortunes.

The final piece of this redemptive equation for the England one-day cricket team was the capture of the World Cup last month, providing their rugby brethren with the inspiration they need heading to Japan. Head coach Eddie Jones even delayed a team meeting so his squad could watch the thrilling denouement at Lord’s, which was raucously celebrated at their Bristol training base.

“We were lucky that Eddie is a cricket fan, so he pushed a meeting back as it went into the superover,” said Jamie George, the hooker, who boasts several links to England’s world champions.

George was room-mates at school with Sam Billings, who missed the World Cup with a dislocated shoulder, and has also struck up a friendship with England one-day captain Eoin Morgan, who regularly attends Saracens home games. “I know him through that and I was at Lord’s watching him play, sent him a text and he was around for a beer afterwards,” George said. A few pints later and an unlikely connection was struck.

It was during those conversations that George came to appreciate the similarities between the teams despite the very different nature of the sports.

“What that England cricket team has done over the last four years has been incredible and there were a lot of parallels between us and them,” George said. “We have been through very similar challenges. To see them come out the other side and be crowned world champions is fully deserved and I’m very proud of them doing that.

“You can see the parallels in how they had some pretty disappointing campaigns, some tough losses. Very much like us. There are not direct parallels in terms of the way the game is played, but in the team culture and the rest of it. That’s something Eoin Morgan is very keen on talking about, so I have chatted about that with him before. He is a very impressive bloke and I have learnt a huge amount from him in terms of what he has done with the England cricket team.”

Whether Jones’s squad can reach their own promised land will largely depend on how well they absorb those lessons around team leadership and culture. The suspicion remains that while England can be world beaters with the sun on their backs, the presence of a few rain clouds can cause them to disintegrate. The 31-0 capitulation against Scotland in the Six Nations was a demonstration of the fragility of the bonds that are supposed to tie the team together.

Hence, as much as England are being physically beasted in their training camps this summer, Jones has also prioritised building team unity. “We are together for a long time and togetherness is something Eddie highlighted from the Six Nations as something we needed to work on clearly, and I think it is something that is definitely tighter now than we were during the Six Nations,” George said. “We are having some really good conversations about how to get better and we are also just getting to know each other a bit better and that has put us in good stead. Hopefully when the pressure comes on as a group we will be tighter and it will make it easier to get through those times.” By contrast, George’s club, Saracens, are probably the closest-knit team in rugby. Even under the greatest of pressure, Mark Mccall’s side retain belief in themselves and their tactics, which was a key factor in their domestic and European double last season. George, though, says that it is not as simple as England importing the Saracens blueprint. “Eddie’s always looking to pick up bits from everyone. I’m lucky that I play for a relatively successful club and Eddie tries to pick our brains but, at the same time, it’s a different environment,” he said. “We’re trying to create something similar, but our own