Sir Ian McGeechan
Why Eddie Jones is right to name World Cup squad tomorrow
Unsurprisingly after a dozen weeks of training, England are itching for a game. Full-back Elliot Daly is one of those 23 players who will finally get to give that urge an overdue scratch today at Twickenham against Wales.
“You always get to that stage where – I think Ken Owens said it in the paper the other day – there are only so many times you can run up and down a pitch without playing rugby,” Daly admits. “We have had the ball in since day one, so it hasn’t been so much running up and down. It has still been tough, but you get to the point where you want to get out there and express yourself as a team and see where you are going into these four games.”
England regrouped at their Pennyhill Park base this week following 12 days of intense training in Treviso, but the camp did not pass without controversy. It emerged this week there had been an off-field altercation between Ben Te’o and Mike Brown, which Eddie Jones refused to confirm yesterday.
The heat and humidity, designed to mimic the conditions England will experience in Japan, lived up to expectations according to Daly, particularly when it came to handling catches under the high ball.
“The humidity was pretty bad. It was a good, testing environment and it’s interesting what the humidity does to a ball where it gets pretty greasy pretty quickly,” Daly adds. “To have 12 days out there and as many sessions as we did was good.
“We are now used to that environment and each other in quite testing conditions. I didn’t get much of a tan... but I’m looking forward to going back and it’s a nice part of the world.”
Eddie Jones names his 31-man squad for the World Cup tomorrow but Daly should sleep easy tonight, given his seat on the plane to Japan has been inked in for some time.
Daly’s past 12 Tests for England have come at full-back, and he scored tries in victories over Australia and Ireland. The 26-year-old has always been admired for his ability to play across the back line but now has a defined role in an England shirt.
“I know it sounds ridiculous but the people playing aren’t really thinking about [the squad announcement], it’s a game of rugby we’re thinking about now,” Daly says. “Maybe that is a good
thing, but you’re not solely going to be judged on this game, you’re going to be judged on the last couple of months and what we were doing at the end of last year. Everyone just wants to get out there because it’s 12 weeks since we last played.”
Whether that certainty regarding Daly’s position continues when he links up with Saracens next season remains to be seen after he left Wasps, the club he joined at the age of 14.
With the European champions Daly will be competing for the 15 shirt up against his opposite man today at Twickenham, Liam Williams.
“[Liam] had a great year last year. He’s a quality player. From the Lions tour he has kept that form on for the last 18 months, two years now. He’s played really well for Sarries and for Wales. He’s nailed down that 15 jersey and it’s good to see him doing well.”
Daly’s respect for Wales and their captain, Alun Wyn Jones, is clear. Jones becomes Wales’ most-capped player of all time today and left a notable impression on Daly during the British and Irish Lions tour two years ago. Aside from Rob Evans, Josh Navidi and Cory Hill, all recovering from injuries, Wales are bringing to Twickenham an impressively strong side, featuring 13 of the starters who clinched the Grand Slam against Ireland in March.
“[Alun Wyn is] a great player. He showed it on that Lions tour and showed it all throughout last year. He’s a good leader as well. To play that many games for your country is an amazing achievement,” Daly says.
“I expected a strong side. I just thought they would go pretty full strength, which will be a good test for us and the new lads coming in, especially as we have not had a game for a while now. Everyone is raring to get out there and play again.”
No one more so than Anthony Watson, Daly’s England and Lions team-mate who has not played a Test for his country since the 2018 Six Nations. Watson is now over his Achilles issues and returns on the wing against Wales, with Daly and Watson likely to interchange frequently between their respective positions.
“Everyone knows it has been a tough year for [Watson]. He is back to his best in training, tearing the house down and cannot wait to get out there,” says Daly. “It is brilliant to see him back. He brings something to the wing that is pretty X-factor. It will be good to see him out there again on Sunday.
“We are quite a fluid back line, so it’s working together to make sure we are in the right places for whatever we are trying to execute.”
Daly and Watson were due to be partnered in England’s back three by Ruaridh McConnochie before the former England sevens player was forced to withdraw from the squad with a hip injury.
McConnochie has been one of the outside candidates to make England’s final squad, with Daly revealing he had been impressed by McConnochie’s attitude in training since first linking up with England.
“Knowing him for the short amount of time I have, how he attacks things is really good,” Daly says. “He has come in and got down to it straight away, has a good rugby brain on him. Wants to learn all the time.
“Probably when he went to Bath, he was not expecting to play as much as he ended up doing this year and to get that opportunity, and he has obviously taken it and performed very well.”
This might effectively only be a friendly but it certainly matters to Watson after months on the sidelines, and to those England players still fighting for selection. A result against the Six Nations champions would also provide some welcome momentum.
“It matters quite a lot,” Daly explains. “Obviously it’s not a World Cup game, it’s a warm-up game but it’s still an international. We’re at home and we want to get that winning mentality straight away and see where we go after that.”