Payback time Jones seeks revenge against the Welsh
Jones says last year’s loss still hurts his players Watson back in place of Joseph as specialist wing
Eddie Jones insists his England side will be out for payback against Wales at Twickenham after having their Six Nations campaign derailed in Cardiff 12 months ago.
A whole ocean’s worth of water has passed under the Severn Bridge since England returned from the Principality Stadium after losing 21-13 last February. The sides have played each other home and away in World Cup warm-up games, both teams reached the semi-finals of the tournament in Japan and Wayne Pivac has replaced Warren Gatland as Wales head coach. Yet like a vengeful elephant, Jones never forgets the defeats his sides suffer, particularly, it seems, against Wales.
“You’ve got to remember they beat us last year so we owe them one,” the England head coach said. “You never like to lose to Wales, and we lost last year. We were in the position we were in at half-time and we’ve learnt from that. That was one of the key games that got us in our best condition for the World Cup. It’s still a game that I’m sure every player who played in it irks them. It certainly irks me.”
England were 10-3 ahead at halftime but Wales seized control in the second half, scoring tries through Cory Hill and Josh Adams in the final quarter. George Ford, who was on the bench for that game, insists England cannot allow Wales to play the match on their terms again.
“We started the game particularly well, but we didn’t adjust or adapt well enough on the field to what Wales were trying to do to us and the game they wanted to play,” the fly-half said. “It got into a game that suited them more than us – a niggly, attritional game. The disappointing thing is when situations like that happen you want to find a way to get momentum again and impose yourself, and we didn’t.”
Jones has made two changes from the side who beat Ireland 24-12 as wing Anthony Watson and flanker Mark Wilson start in their first England appearances since the World Cup final. This is England’s most experienced starting XV, with a total of 786 caps, while the average age of just over 28 is the oldest England side since the 2011 World Cup.
Nevertheless, this represents a brand new back-row combination, with Jones resisting the temptation to switch Tom Curry and Wilson, who has far more experience at No8. With Courtney Lawes continuing at blindside flanker, all three players are effectively playing out of their preferred position. Jones says that he had no qualms about promoting Wilson, who has started just one Premiership match this season because of knee surgery, in the absence of Sam Underhill, who has a head injury.
“We use the barometer of how they can cope with our training,” Jones said. “He’s a good, tough player and those players can always find a little bit more. He’s had to go through a knee operation and rehab but he’s come back in, is fit and full of beans and has added a lot of energy to the team.”
Watson, who has been struggling with a calf injury, replaces Jonathan Joseph, who drops out of the matchday 23. “Anthony’s come back in and we decided to pick a specialist winger,” Jones said. “He [Joseph] is just very unlucky.”
Jones said that England enjoyed their best training session of the campaign in the week in which they were always planning to peak. “That’s always been the goal,” Jones said. “This was always going to be the crux game of the Six Nations for us, so we deliberately had quite a slow build-up to it so we are at our best this week.”
An opening-round 24-17 defeat in France put a spanner in the works of Jones’s masterplan, but nevertheless he is anticipating England’s toughest test yet. “England-wales games are a little bit different, aren’t they?” he said. “Since I’ve been coaching, the average points difference is six points. They are tough affairs. It goes down to the wire.
“Particularly Wales under Warren have been one of the most physical teams in the world. So they always bring that to the party, and then Pivac’s obviously trying to add a more passing attack game, but they’ll still bring that physical quality. They’ve lost two games. They’ve got a new coach and they’ll want to make a statement.”
Facing England at Twickenham will be centre Nick Tompkins, who represented England Saxons and was being “monitored” by Jones before his switch of allegiance.