Eddie’s quest for excellence at England’s new £2.5m complex
Nick Cain interview
THE combination of Eddie Jones’ apex ambitions for England and the high-tech specifications of the RFU’s £2.5m training installation at Pennyhill Park meant that it was tailor-made for his first Press conference of the season.
As ‘Fast Eddie’ reiterated that the first Grand Slam since 2003 and a ground-breaking 3-0 series win in Australia were past history, the only thing the place was missing was a mission statement ending in an exclamation mark. Something like, ‘To infinity – and beyond!’
The outdoor pitch at the private hotel has the exact dimensions and same grass-artificial weave surface as that at Twickenham, so that England can train with set-square precision to dissect their opponents. The same applies to the indoor 3G field, which is about 60 per cent of the outside pitch area – from the 10 metre line of one half to the goal-line of the other – but also with full pitch measurements.
The industrial-sized indoor hanger adjacent to the identikit Twickenham pitch houses not only the indoor field, but also a heavy-duty gym, changing rooms, injury rehab facilities and a cryo chamber for deep-freeze rapid recovery.
On the upper floor it has a viewing area overlooking the pitch where cameras – combined with others which surround the pitch – allow training footage to be beamed down immediately by analysts to laptops on the sideline, or to big screens in the hanger, so that England’s coaches and players can scrutinise their handiwork instantly.
From some vantage points in the indoor section you even get the illusion of the covered pitch extending seamlessly into the outdoor pitch like some vast green infinity pool. So much so that if the massive plate glass windows were opened it looks as if the England squad could sprint straight out of one onto the other.
The reality is radically different. The first thing they would have to negotiate is a crash-landing onto a soil bank which drops about eight feet to the outdoor surface. However, Jones has no intention of allowing England to stumble towards a fall of any sort, as he soon made clear at a conference which dovetailed with the announcement of Mitsubishi as official partners of England rugby, and his own unveiling as a brand ambassador.
Jones wants his elite squad, and those with aspirations to be part of it, on their toes. He said that the more he has analysed England’s three-Test summer tour cleansweep of the Wallabies the less impressed he has been.
“As you’ve seen, Australia haven’t done well since those Tests. That reinforces that we’ve got to be very circumspect about our performance against them. There were games where our set-piece didn’t function. In the second Test our line-out didn’t function well. In the first and third Tests our defence didn’t function well, whereas in the second it was exemplary.”
He outlined that a lack of top end consistency was why England trailed New Zealand: “Great teams are consistent. They’re consistently good. That’s what we’re lacking at the moment, and that’s what I’m saying to the coaches. New Zealand have a 7/10 and a 9/10 game. They don’t have a 5/10 game, and they very rarely have a 10/10 game. That’s where the great teams operate. We still have 5/10 performances, and that’s not good enough.”
The England head coach also offered a cogent explanation for the rapid rebuild by the All Blacks which has seen them clean up so far in the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Championship, and in their 3-0 summer tour win over Wales.
Jones said it stemmed from the control that his opposite number, Steve Hansen, has over the whole Super Rugby and NZ player development structure. “That is just the way it is. They have been able to rebuild their team quickly because of their system. That is where they get advantages – because they control every (NZ) Super team they rebuild quicker than other teams. Those players who needed to come through (have done so) – Beauden Barrett, below, for example, is now the world’s best attacking 10. He was a bit fragile in defence, but he has worked on his defence, so he comes into the team.” Jones adds that it has been to New Zealand’s benefit, leaving South Africa and Australia in their wake. “It’s because the NZ coaches are allowed to influence their Super Rugby coaches. In other countries that doesn’t happen. It doesn’t happen in Australia, and it doesn’t happen in South Africa. Those teams are going through significant rebuilding, so bringing those players through is a slow process – and we have seen that with both those teams.” However, in the next breath Jones was back on the offensive, saying that the 2017 Lions had every chance of winning the series against a New Zealand side that was only a mere three per cent ahead of the chasing pack. He said they had “significant weaknesses” which the Lions, and England, could exploit.
Jones said that this season he expected England to add to their Grand Slam and summer tour exploits by supplying almost half the Lions tour party. “I would hope we have at least 15 – I would be disappointed if we didn’t. I’d think that if we didn’t get 15 I wouldn’t be doing my job well enough.”
He added that he did not consider the Lions tour hype to be a distraction for players who had their priorities in the right order.
“My wife said to me the other day, ‘When is the Lions tour?’. When I told her it wasn’t until next year she was shocked that everything was about it all now! That’s the environment, and the players have to cope with it. They all know that unless they play well for their clubs, and then England, they won’t go. If they get distracted then they are not strong enough.”
Asked if he considered Dylan Hartley, his captain, to be a hot tip to lead the Lions, Jones responded that the Northampton hooker had done a great job and was still intrinsic to his England plans. “As long as he’s fit, he’ll captain us in the November Tests, and take it from there. The Lions isn’t my portfolio. I’ll let Warren Gatland make that decision. Warren can come in and talk to him – have a beer, coffee or whatever he wants.”
However, Jones acknowledged that Hartley would have to fight for his place over the course of the season against a posse of hungry No. 2s.
“It’s a great contest. Jamie George is a great young player and Luke Cowan-Dickie is the same. Tommy Taylor was left out of our top four hookers but has done well for Wasps – he’s a good player, is working hard at his game and has got a great attitude. They have got to keep putting pressure on and show they can provide the same sort of leadership. Say someone takes over from Dylan, you have got to remem--
ber they have got to take a significant leadership role. They don’t necessarily have to be captain, but they have to be a leader on the field.”
The name left out of the England coach’s hooker commentary was Tom Youngs, who, like the Leicester team he captains, has had a mixed start to the season. This is probably because the 31-cap Leicester hooker -- who was restored to the provisional 45-man EPS in August – covers the leadership bases Jones made a point of highlighting.
He explained: “It is not only being a good player, it is being a leader. We can’t afford to shift good players out who have got leadership and bring younger players in who don’t have leadership capabilities. So, when you are talking about Henry Slade, when I go and watch games in person I am looking for those players to show leadership. So, when they are under the pump, they are the ones talking to other players about what they are going to do. That is the beauty of watching games live. You don’t need to watch every game live, but that is when you see players showing leadership.”
One of the leaders England will be missing for the Autumn Internationals is James Haskell, who is recovering from surgery to the toe injury sustained during his inspirational defensive display in the series-clinching win over Australia in Melbourne.
When it was suggested that Haskell might make an a head-of-schedule recovery and do a George Smith job for England, Jones said it was wishful thinking: “He is not George Smith. He has just got to concentrate on his rehab. I love him, but he is not George Smith.”
even though Haskell’s absence leaves the door ajar for someone to make a strong pitch for the openside shirt, Jones made it clear that leading candidates Teimana Harrison, Jack Clifford and Chris Robshaw, had not yet done so – and nor had any newcomers.
The suggestion that Nathan Hughes could move from 8 to 7 was summarily dismissed, as was former England captain Robshaw’s claim at openside. “Robshaw’s not an option. He’s a six,” Jones said. Amen to that.
Instead, the head coach reserved his main name-check for Harrison, despite taking off the Northampton man only half an hour into the final Test in Sydney. “Harrison was better on the weekend (against Bristol). He’s got a big game this weekend against Sarries. He needs to show that he can physically take those guys on. There are a couple of other dark horses...”
When I asked him whether the inform Wasps flanker Guy Thompson was one of those coming up on the rails following his man-of-the-match display at No.8 against Leicester at Welford Road, Jones returned to the mantra of consistency.
“He has got to put in four of those in a row. It is like any batsman can come out and score 80 runs (once) – but to average 60 you have got to consistently bat well. It is easy to get one performance like that. If he does that next week, and the week after, then I will know he is a good player.”
Jones reinforced this mindset when he said he was unlikely to make many changes to the August provisional squad when he announces his main 45-man EPS at the end of this month.
“It will be reasonably consistent. We have shown in the short time that we have been consistent selectors. But the players will decide that, not me. If players play well, and keep playing well, they will be in. If they don’t, they won’t. When I go to a game they should select themselves. You go to Sarries v Exeter – no-one needs to tell you that Billy and Mako Vunipola are international players. They stand out, they are ahead of the pack.”
The message from the Pennyhill centre of excellence to those players who want to embark on the next stage of the Jones journey is that giving the door a shove is not enough. You’ve got to rip it off its hinges.