Long-awaited starting spot for Cokanasiga is reward for ‘desire’
Eddie Jones handed Bath wing Joe Cokanasiga a magnificent 21st birthday present yesterday in the shape of an international debut in this weekend’s third Quilter Test against Japan at Twickenham.
Fiji-born Cokanasiga won the Six Nations’ Under-20 Grand Slam with England in 2017 but, despite inclusion in the senior squad for the summer tour to Argentina that year, when he was 19, and in several of Jones’s training camps since then, this is his first chance to bring his imposing 6ft 3ins, 18 stone frame to the full Test stage.
“I think it’s always handy to have one big winger that can dent a line and there aren’t a lot of those playing in England,” head coach Jones said. “We wanted to see what he had [in 2017], which wasn’t much. He’d basically run out for training and was exhausted. But he has worked really hard at his game, he has changed clubs and shown a real desire to be a Test player. He came to Portugal [to train with England in October] like a different guy. He is really driven to be the best he can be.”
Jones is unsurprisingly using the meeting with Japan, ranked 11th in the world, to tinker with his line-up.
In a team captained by George Ford from fly-half, there are just four starters – Elliot Daly, Chris Ashton, Maro Itoje and Mark Wilson – retained from last Saturday’s 16-15 loss to New Zealand, while Charlie Ewels steps into the injured George Kruis’s place as left lock and line-out caller, and Jones gives a complete rest
0 Joe Cokanasiga will be a very physical presence on the wing.
to Ben Youngs, Jonny May and Ben Te’o.
The front row has been swapped over, en bloc, with Ben Moon, Dylan Hartley and Kyle Sinckler joining Sam Underhill, Owen Farrell and Henry Slade as starters from last week who are now on the bench.
There are first appearances of the autumn for Alex Lozowski, previously suspended but now at inside centre, and scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth and Ted Hill among the replacements – the latter is Worcester Warriors’ uncapped flanker, a bolt from the blue of late. Exeter’s Jack Nowell starts at centre for England for the first time, as all his previous run-on Tests have been on the wing.
Fellow players expressed opinions on Cokanasiga that were a mix of the admiring and the awe-struck. Lozowski said: “I am glad he is on our team. He is a big physical guy who is good aerially and has a good feel for the game. He pops up in good areas, on shoulders and inside balls, so he is a good player to have and everyone knows how physical he is.”
Loosehead prop Alec Hepburn
commented: “Athletically, players like Joe are few and far between; I’m just thankful I don’t have to play opposite him. He is not only very physical, but very agile for his size too. As a raw talent he’s incredible.”
And the new man’s clubmate Zach Mercer, who will be at No 8 for his first England start, said: “We are close mates and I’m his chauffeur back in Bath. I am really proud for him.”
Japan pulled off a shock 23-23 draw with France in Paris this time last year, a result which led to the sacking of French coach Guy Noves, but they were beaten 69-31 by New Zealand’s second XV in Tokyo a fortnight ago. “They are a respected rugby country, now, Japan, and that is how we have treated the game,” said Jones.