Patched up England will be tested by French giants
WHEN does battered become broken? It is a dilemma that all leading Rugby Union coaches find themselves facing, because at any given time they can be without 25 per cent of their starting players due to injury – and Eddie Jones is no exception.
Jones doesn’t do doubt, and despite being hit with an avalanche of injuries in the six months since the summer tour of Australia, he has shown himself to be a mastercraftsman when it comes to make-doand-mend. He also has the priceless habit of accentuating the positives and sweeping aside the negatives, and it is served him well in an exceptional first year as England head coach.
However, as he embarks on his second Six Nations – with Grand Slam England as the bull’s-eye on everyone else’s target – Jones let his guard down for a split second and revealed that he knows he is treading a thin line.
Soon after sounding the rallying cry at England’s first squad session of the new year in Brighton that the team cannot allow themselves to slip from the heights like Leicester City have, he conceded that the rate of attrition is playing on his mind. “You wake up every day and hope someone else doesn’t get injured,” Jones said.
This is because since his first year ended on a 14-match winning run with an unbeaten autumn series in November, the Red Rose injury list has gone from bad to worse. This is especially true of the pack, where Mako Vunipola (knee), Joe Launchbury (calf), George Kruis (cheekbone), Chris Robshaw (shoulder) and Billy Vunipola (knee) are either recuperating from injuries that have already ruled them out of most of the Six Nations, or make them doubtful for the opener against France on February 4.
With Dylan Hartley still serving a six-week suspension, and James Haskell just about to play his first club games since sustaining a broken toe on the Australia tour, there will also be doubts about their match-fitness for the France game.
A worst-case scenario could see Jones left with only two of the starting forwards that won him the Six Nations Slam and a series Down Under (Dan Cole and Maro Itoje), and only four of those who started in the 37-21 win over the Wallabies at Twickenham last month (Cole, Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood and Nathan Hughes).
As things stand the fit men are Cole, Itoje, Lawes, Wood and Hughes, with Jamie George also having proved regularly that he is worth a starting role at hooker. However, Joe Marler is the only seasoned hand on an inexperienced bench featuring Kyle Sinckler, Charlie Ewels and Teimana Harrison, and it leaves England looking patched-together up front.
This will not have been lost on France coach Guy Noves or his forwards coach, former Toulouse hooker Yannick Bru, and they will fancy their chances of tearing a few more holes in the Red Rose forward ranks. Jones has reason to be wary of the French because they are a side on an upward trajectory, and, on the evidence of their narrow autumn losses to Australia and New Zealand, are busy boosting the work-rate of a gargantuan pack.
The counterpoint is that Jones has proved that he knows how to maximise England’s strengths and minimise their weaknesses, while being ruthless in attacking the deficiencies of the opposition. However, with France and Wales – in Cardiff – coming at England with savage intent in the first two rounds of the tournament, the depth of his squad – and his selection ability – is going to be tested like never before.
If the inclusion of Josh Beaumont, Nathan Catt, Mike Williams, and the return of Sam Jones after injury, in the Brighton 33-man squad shows where the England coach is heading, it also shines a spotlight on their inexperience. They do not have a single cap among them.
I’ve said before that Williams can count himself very fortunate to be on the fast track to Test rugby on such limited evidence, but if the Leicester blindside/lock rises to the opportunity like others that Jones has picked, then he will bury those reservations. A young back rower who certainly looks capable of lift-off is James Chisholm, and it is a pity his rugged all-action carrying for Harlequins this season was not recognised by inclusion in the 450-man EPS.
What is much harder to square is the continued absence from the 45 of Dave Attwood and Matt Kvesic. Attwood has size, power and mobility, and has played consistently well for Bath this season. He could be a bulwark against the French and the Welsh, and although Kvesic has to work on his speed he knows which corners to cut, and he is still the strongest English openside over the ball.
Unless Kruis recovers and Haskell hits the ground running like Farrell did on his return in the autumn, it is likely that the England coach will opt for a pack of Marler, Hartley, Cole, Lawes, Itoje, Williams, Wood, Hughes – although he could put Ewels at lock and move Itoje to blindside instead of Williams. My pack to take on the French would definitely see Itoje move to blindside with the two absentees named above also included. It reads: Marler, George, Cole, Attwood, Lawes, Itoje, Kvesic, Hughes.
On the subject of opensides, the new EPS saw the Leicester youngster Will Evans drop off the roster. Two even more notable absentees were Ellis Genge and Alex Goode, and despite the Leicester loose-head being prominent in the narrow home win
coach wanted.out against enoughafter Two Munster,not moreto respondingwhat who boththe have headlost visibly slipped In the ratings are Jack Clifford and Henry Slade, with neither require in Brighton – although both kept their places in the 45. Jones is setting a relentless pace, and has made it clear that there is no room for passengers. With typical gusto he also emphasised that you do efend”a Grand Slam but go on not “de\ffensive to win another one. at mindset was on the money, nd the same was true of his observations this week that England have to play with much higher tempo than most Premiership clubs – and that to launch an effective attacking game you need an outstanding set piece. Jones acknowledges that his side have barely broken out the bunting in attack, and says that part of that is due to the line-out going well sometimes, and the scrum doing the business sometimes – but never both at the same time.
This season he wants to change that, and develop a more creative style which brings out the best in a backline that is simmering rather than at full boil. The knee rupture suffered by Manu Tuilagi last weekend means that those plans have been dented – but apart from the injury to the desperately unlucky Anglo-Samoan, the England backs are in better shape than the forwards.
With Jack Nowell and Anthony Watson up-and-running again there is cover for Mike Brown at full-back, as well as fierce competition for the wing berths, with Jonny May and Marland Yarde also in the frame.
Nowell’s outstanding contribution to Exeter’s first win at Bath last weekend showcased what an accomplished footballer he is, and any team with May or Watson out wide has the speed to scare opponents from their own 22.
The uplift in Bristol’s fortunes since the English-qualified Jason Woodward arrived could also give Jones pause for thought, because the former Hurricanes wing – who kept Julian Savea out of the team that won the Super 18 title last season – is equally effective at full-back, wing or outside centre.
The joust between Jonathan Joseph and Elliot Daly for the 13 jersey indicates that the two-deep layer in every position that Jones is looking for is starting to materialise. Elsewhere, most of the bases are covered. Even allowing for Tuilagi’s renewed absence, Owen Farrell and Ben Te’o offer different variations at insidecentre, while at fly-half Alex Lozowski has leap-frogged Danny Cipriani in the pecking order to slot in behind George Ford and Farrell.
If there had been a run of injuries at fly-half, or full-back, to rival those in the pack, then Cipriani and Goode would not be surplus to requirements. However, for now, they are on the periphery. Like Attwood, Kvesic and Genge they will be disappointed.
However, none of the players can say that Jones is anything less than transparent in his dealings with them. His latest assessment of Dylan Hartley is a case in point.
Asked recently by his old sparring partner, and now Daily Mail pundit, Sir Clive Woodward, if Hartley will remain as captain Jones replied that he had done a tremendous job for him. He described the Northampton hooker as a player who can create unity and purpose – but he also pulled no punches. “He’s not the greatest player in the world, but he has got that rare ability to get players playing for him,” Jones said.
He added that Hartley was integral to the first two years of his four-year England plan – begging the question, what about after that? Jones’ response that he would “assess” what happens with the captaincy in 2018 and 2019 posts notice that no player – Hartley included – is guaranteed selection during his tenure as coach.
It also guarantees that England, despite being battered by injuries, will be a highly motivated outfit with no illusions. As for a second Grand Slam, Jones has set out his stall.