Nick Cain reports
Eddie says he picks men in form so why are these missing?
“Jones has ignored players whose club displays made a persuasive case for their inclusion”
EDDIE Jones faces one of the biggest challenges of his coaching career this Autumn, and it’s one that many of his Southern Hemisphere critics, with New Zealanders to the fore, feel is beyond him.
The charge repeatedly levelled at England’s Aussie head coach by Kiwi sledgers is that he is a one-trick wonder. They say he can lift teams to reach the heights – such as England’s unbeaten run in 2016-17, and Japan’s epic 2015 World Cup victory over South Africa – but that it is only temporary because Jones is not capable of sustaining success.
The evidence thus far is that on his watch England have gone from peak to trough, which is why his tenure as Australia coach came to an end in 2005. Jones will say he doesn’t give a tinker’s cuss about what others think, maybe because he is his own harshest critic.
He is a driven man who craves success – and this Autumn series gives him a chance to spike the doubters.
The biggest impediment to an England resurgence, with the opener against South Africa only a fortnight away, is that Jones has to undertake a rapid rebuild of his squad following the high injury toll over the last few weeks.
This has seen his pack hit hardest with the sidelining of Billy and Mako Vunipola, the forwards he could least afford to lose. Regime stalwarts like Chris Robshaw and Joe Launchbury have also been injured, and the overhaul has been made more extensive by Jones’ decision not to include two more mainstays of the 2016 Grand Slam pack, with Dan Cole and James Haskell left out.
Add to that the absence of back-up No.8s Nathan Hughes (disciplinary ban) and Sam Simmonds (ruptured ACL), along with the long-term injuries to backs Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph, and Jones is having to dig deep into his reserve strength.
However, given England’s slump in last year’s Six Nations and the lost summer series in South Africa it may not be the handicap it is being billed as, and instead might be just the revamp that his jaded outfit required.
The 36-man training squad which begins its preparations in Portugal this week includes eight uncapped players – props Nick Schonert (Worcester) and Ben Moon (Exeter), lock Elliott Stooke (Bath), flankers Michael Rhodes (Saracens) and Ted Hill (Worcester), No.8 Zach Mercer (Bath), and wings Nathan Earle (Harlequins) and Joe Cokanasiga (Bath) – as well as a recall after three years for Gloucester No.8 Ben Morgan.
The main misgiving I have – and it is a sizeable one – is that Jones appears to have steadfastly ignored many of the players whose club displays made a persuasive case for their inclusion. Backs who have been consistently impressive for their clubs like Danny Cipriani and Alex Goode missed the cut, as did form forwards like Dave Attwood, Don Armand and Val Rapava Ruskin.
By comparison, other players who provided less conclusive evidence, due to injury, like Ben Te’o, or disciplinary issues, as with Chris Ashton, or unremarkable performances, like Ben Youngs, George Ford, Charlie Ewels and Stooke, are included.
Cipriani’s exclusion smacks of internal squad politics given his impressive start with Gloucester, and that only Ford and Owen Farrell are named as fly-halves. Such a key tactical position deserves special attention, especially when the bloke in question did England proud in Cape Town. Yet Jones claimed he had run out of places despite altering his usual stance of taking two scrum-halves by naming three.
Goode appears to be the only Saracens player handicapped by playing for England’s best club when it comes to international selection. Where Farrell is consistently very good for the Premiership champions, Goode is consistently outstanding, raising his game season-on-season. This time the explanation is that he does not fit the full-back “mould” Jones wants.
It’s hard to fathom how the 6ft 7ins Attwood, who has been Bath’s best lock this season and brings a barnstorming carrying ability, is behind club-mates Ewels and Stooke – and Jones’ explanation that Stooke gives him another line-out caller seemed thin given that George Kruis and Maro Itoje both do it.
The continued absence of flanker/ No.8 Armand, who is another effective forward carrier, one of the best line-out operators in the Premiership, is an unstinting tackler, and has been consistently among Exeter’s best players for three years, is another mystery.
By comparison, the selection of Mercer in the back row looks premature. The Bath youngster is dynamic, but his ball-retention in contact at club level is a weakness and is compounded by his habit of attempting onehanded miracle passes.
The wider Jones message is that while what happens now is “a fantastic opportunity” for players to impress him, it is inconsequential by comparison with the World Cup – and that it is only then that his team needs to peak.
He said after announcing the squad at Twickenham on Thursday: “What I know about the World Cup – and I’ve been lucky enough that this will be my fourth – is that the only time you need to be at your best is at the World Cup. All the leading up to it is sparring. It’s practice rounds, it’s getting combinations right. So, as long as we’ve got in our heads what the team is – and I believe we do – then we’ll be alright.”
Jones gave further weight to his World Cup trumps-all argument as he referred to his experience as a consultant coach with the South Africa side that won the 2007 World Cup, with Jake White as head coach. “On the European tour in 2006 South Africa are getting pumped every game, and he (White) gets a phone call, ‘come home’. So, he’s been told he’s going to get the sack, so he’s out there waiting like a schoolboy outside the principal’s office. “Anyway, a certain bloke with a lot of money sends a fax to the SA Rugby Union office saying if you sack him you will lose all your sponsorship. So, Jake gets a reprieve. In 2007 there are four Tri
Nations games, and how many did they win? One Then they go to the World Cup and first game what happens? 36-0 against England – didn’t look back”. He continued: “The most important thing is to know where you want to go – and we know where we want to go. Of course want to win every game, but the reality is that sometimes you’re not (going to) But what’s important is that we keep moving forward, and sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t tell you you’re moving forward...” What a most slipped under the radar was that the England coach added this ‘jam tomorrow’ proviso: “And we need our best players to be fit for the crux games at he World Cup, which will be in the later rounds of the pool.” He revisited the theme when he said: “We’ve got a team to win the World Cup. We need our best players available, and we need them fit, and we need them united. And I think we’ve got the right leadership team to do that.” Putting the availability of all your best players at the top of your wish-list, like Jonehas, is unrealistic – and he need only look back to New Zealand scraping some against France in the 2011 World Cup final to realise why. Graham Jenry was down to his fourth choice fly half, Stephen Donald, to kick the winning penalty after Dan Carter, Aaron Cruden and Colin Slade were injured during the tournament. There are also many more sides which have bombed out at World Cups after poor build-ups than there are that have found the turbo switch, like the 2007 Springboks.
The most glaring example is the closest to home, because many of Stuart Lancaster’s England side that became the first host nation to crash out in the pool stage are still at the heart of Jones’ plans.
It explains why it is essential that the England coach not only uses this Autumn series to gain momentum by beating the Southern Hemisphere troika of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, but has also arrived at a coherent four deep pecking-order in every position by the end of it.
What also stands out about Jones’ assessment of his squad’s current state is the odd mix of ‘jam tomorrow’ and ‘no excuses’.
The no excuses part began when he was asked whether England’s Autumn injury toll caused him any anxiety.
“No. That’s the job, you can only play with the cards you’re dealt. You can talk about season structure, you can talk about rugby, you can talk about club versus country, but you can only do what you can do, and the only thing I can do is select the side. In my judgement that’s the best 36 players, and now I’ve got to get them organised and get them in the right attitude to play.”
Questioned whether the Premiership was providing him with the international-quality players to cover for the injuries, Jones said:
“I can’t influence how the clubs play. That’s an irrelevant discussion because that’s the players that I’ve got, and now I’ve got to make them into Test players.
“Guys, I know you want to go down this club versus country route but it’s of no value to me, because I don’t need excuses, I don’t want excuses. I know it’s great headlines for you guys but it’s of no great value to me.”
Jones then replied to a request for an insight into his own mindset when he discovers that another England player is crocked: “Who’s next? I feel sorry for the player, (like) the Vunipola boys.
“You couldn’t coach two nicer boys, and Billy’s had a nightmare run, and you could see he’s just starting to get back and now he’s had another setback. He’s got to fight through it, and he will. It’s disappointing for Mako because I know both of them love playing for England – but then the job is to find who’s next.”
Jones revealed that he found himself in similar straits with injuries as coach of the Wallabies, especially when his two top fly-halves, Steve Larkham and Matt Giteau were out of action at the same time.
He explained that Down Under the elite player base is very thin: “In Australia when two fly-halves get injured you are literally looking for someone to play 10. There was no one. We had to play Mat Rogers, a Rugby League player, at 10. It becomes difficult.”
Asked how he got on in those circumstances, Jones said: “Not very well. You have just got to find a way – and it is the same here.” Not quite. In England there is no shortage of elite players, just differences of opinion over how to utilise them.
That’s why, with form players like Cipriani, Goode, Attwood and Armand deemed surplus to requirements by Jones, he may have made this Autumn’s exams harder than they need be – and spurned an opportunity to bring an even greater competitive edge to his squad.
“Putting the availability of all your best players at the top of your wishlist is unrealistic”