Japan outing the ideal dress rehearsal for Jones’ World Cup plans
England mirror next year’s short turnaround Ford says new-look side have ‘huge opportunity’
If the theme in the England camp this week has been mimicking the stress and strain of their four-day turnaround at the start of their World Cup campaign in Japan next year, not all has gone Eddie Jones’s way.
On Tuesday night, England brought in chefs from a Japanese restaurant in Winchester to serve up a spread of sushi to enhance the cultural theme. However, Jones indicated that the experience had not been embraced wholeheartedly by all.
“They put on a good spread and the boys enjoyed the difference,” said the head coach with a smile. “At the team meeting, everyone got a set of chopsticks… but I don’t think everyone used them.”
Maro Itoje was one player, at least, who was more than happy to ditch the knife and fork.
“I am a big fan of sushi so it was probably just about getting us thinking about Japan as soon as possible,” said Itoje, who, at 24, will be one of the elder statesmen today in a side featuring 11 changes from those who almost toppled New Zealand last Saturday. “I am OK with the chopsticks when it comes to sushi, but I wouldn’t dare to eat rice with them. I am OK with the big stuff.”
It is the small stuff, however, that Jones has been fixated on this week. He believes that his players’ reaction to the challenge of playing a well-organised and coached Japan side at Twickenham will enable him to fine-tune the detail for next year’s World Cup.
England will play their first pool match next September against Tonga in Sapporo, with their second game against the United States taking place just four days later in Kobe, a 700-mile flight away.
Accordingly, this week’s training has been cut by a day, to intensify their preparation, and the muchchanged side, with a new captain in George Ford, will further test England’s pragmatism and adaptability for what is the first Test match between the sides at Twickenham and only the second anywhere since 1987.
Jones said: “From 12 months out we’ve been preparing for the World Cup so we’ve been trying to do little bits and pieces to get us best prepared.
“Our attention is on Japan, but to get a little awareness of what it will be like in Japan is important. We get feedback from the games. It gives us feedback on how we’re
‘We want to show that last week’s action and intensity of play are where we are at now’
training and preparing and at the moment the feedback is good.”
For Neal Hatley, England’s scrum coach, the restricted period has also tested the players’ recovery from the physical demands of the New Zealand game.
With just Elliot Daly wearing the same shirt as last Saturday, the team have had little time to take on board the analysis of Japan.
Hatley said: “We’ve tried to mimic the four-day turnaround between games one and two [in Japan], letting the players get a feel of what it would be like from a recovery point of view, post-match and pre-match; what type of work we can get done in between the games and how quickly we can get information disseminated amongst them. It’s been an unbelievably good exercise.”
We will see just how effective it has been against a highly organised Japan side, coached by former All Black Jamie Joseph, who has instilled in his players many of the traits of his former Super Rugby side, the Highlanders.
The Japanese players have also benefited from the participation of the Sunwolves in Super Rugby.
Jones is expecting a kicking game from the side he coached at the 2015 World Cup. “They beat Italy when they kicked the ball 45 times,” Jones said. “That’s once every minute. Our backfield will get plenty of work and it means it will be a higher transition game than set-piece game – that brings challenges in itself.”
Ford’s leadership role, both in preparation this week and in organising a reshuffled back line that includes a midfield of Alex Lozowski and Jack Nowell and features 21-year-old giant wing Joe Cokanasiga on his debut.
It is a sign of Ford’s maturity and experience that, on his 50th cap, he has come to terms with losing his starting place at fly-half to Farrell for the matches against South Africa and New Zealand.
If he has not conceded that the contest is over on the road to the World Cup, he is at peace with his role within the squad either as a starter or finisher.
Ford said: “The big thing that we have been saying to the squad is that the opportunity for us is huge this weekend – to go out there and show that some of the bits we had last week in terms of action and intensity of our play against New Zealand is where we are at now.
“That is the benchmark and we are only going in one direction from there and that’s to be better than that and not dip underneath it. That can again be challenging, but that is what we want to do.” Chopsticks or not.