Players need to challenge Eddie’s plans

IT WAS good to see England show s o me adventure against Italy, but they need to make sure that it wasn’t a one-off. The Italian game is always a bit of a free hit, so you can afford to take risks and throw the ball around. The challenge is whether England have the nerve to keep that attacking mindset against a side such as Wales. I really hope the players challenge Eddie Jones to make sure they do.

They need to work a lot on their execution. I wanted them to win by 50 points and they fell short, so I hope someone has the courage to push back at Eddie and say: ‘Let’s do this!’

It seems to me that, for a good while, the players have accepted whatever game plan Eddie puts forward. In that kind of environment, it’s easier to do what he says and keep your head down.

Eddie has a sharp tongue and he’s not afraid to use it. One minute he’ll be playing cricket with the guys, then the next he’s like a scary headmaster.

Everyone has heard the scare stories and you don’t want to get on the wrong side of him.

I challenged Eddie once and he blew up. Before the 2019 Japan World Cup camp, he went around all the clubs to do one-on-ones with players. During our meeting, he said: ‘You’re a defensive full-back and I need to work out whether we will take a defensive full-back to the World Cup.’

I’d had one of my best seasons for Quins with really good attacking stats, but Eddie had pigeon-holed me as a defensive full- back. At the end of this meeting, he asked if I had anything I wanted to say. I challenged his comments that I was just a defensive full-back, saying I thought I had been adding value to the attack, with examples and stats from my season, before saying I would take away all of his points and that I would do everything I could to get into the World Cup squad.

He did not like that I had contested what he said and went mad. He shouted: ‘Well you lost the f****** ball in contact on Saturday, didn’t you? That’s f****** not good enough. You’re not f****** doing everything you can.’

DANNY CARE and Alex Goode both challenged him a couple of years ago and neither of them has played for England since. It can only be healthy if players have the confidence to say what they think. It should be encouraged, as long as you have the facts to back it up. I would love to see Jonny May and Anthony Watson pull together some stats and video to challenge Eddie with, ‘Look at what we did against Italy… keep getting us the ball.’

I don’t know too much about the relationship between Finn Russell and Gregor Townsend in Scotland’s camp, but I know Russell stood up to him at halftime of the 2019 Calcutta Cup regarding tactics and how they should be playing, and almost won the game as a result. They have had their differences, but worked through it to the extent that Russell was even made vicecaptain yesterday.

There’s also an onus on the coaches to challenge Eddie. I don’t have much experience of Simon Amor, but he’s quite inexperienced in terms of international XVs. He’s spent more time working i n Sevens, but his attacking ideas haven’t filtered through.

It’s no coincidence the defence and scrum have been extremely effective. They are led by John Mitchell and Matt Proudfoot, who have World Cup pedigree with the All Blacks and South Africa. If they speak, you listen.

Would Amor have the same clout to kick back at Eddie about the attacking strategy? I don’t t hink so. Maybe t hey need another dominant voice in there.