We’ll see if Jones has made any progress for World Cup

With player welfare supposedly at the forefront of everyone’s minds, who would believe the way international rugby tours are structured nowadays?

Why would you expect a squad of players, who have just finished an eight-month season, to travel across the world, have a few days training and then straight into what is still the most physically and mentally demanding embodiment of the game, international rugby.

The reason that tours used to include a number of fixtures against provinces or county sides was partly to enable players to acclimatise to conditions that they were not accustomed to playing in and reduce injury risk. It also helped drive interest for the Test matches while helping to promote the game in areas where perhaps there isn’t a big following and aiding the development and expansion of the sport.

When I was part of the team touring with England, we arrived around two weeks before the first Test match and were usually stuck in some remote site for the first week adjusting to the climate and training. Then we played the local regional teams before moving to the area of the Test venue where we would play a midweek game before the Test.

After the Test, it was off to the next venue, with another midweek fixture, pack your bags and then off to the Second Test and so on throughout the rest of the tour.

The tour structure now seems to be focused on earning a quick buck without incurring as many costs as in previous times when the host union paid for the hotel accommodation of the tour party.

It wasn’t as if we were staying in top hotels like Pennyhill Park or The Savoy, with a room to ourselves and an open tab. We were lucky to get a shared room in a Travelodge with restrictions on phone calls, laundry and meals. But the experience of a tour like that helped bond the team.

The funny thing is that you would have expected tours to be short like they are now in the amateur days when players had jobs outside pf the game and had to take time off work to take part but that wasn’t the case. In fact many players actually lost the chance of playing international rugby by not being able to take the time needed to tour, which in some ways has always made taking part in a tour very special.

For England, this tour is more than special as it will define if

Eddie Jones has made progress with his preparations for next year’s World Cup. The recall of a number of players would indicate that, unlike the popular belief that Jones had ‘lost his way’, he was actually resting his established players while testing possible replacements to improve strength in depth.

The one thing we shouldn’t expect to see are games like those seen over the last couple of seasons, but something more like the style of game shown in the semi-final against New Zealand three years ago. If he pulls it off, Jones may have the last laugh at his many critics, especially those former coaches who have openly called for his replacement.

“Coach may have the last laugh at his many critics”