Jones delighted to capture dual national players
centre or winger who has that and he’s been consistently dynamic in being able to break lines.”
Jones chose not to dwell on Cameron Redpath, who has plumped for Scotland rather than England, saying: “I am only here to talk about players selected for England.
“These boys with dual nations to pick from have to make a choice.We want guys who want to play for England, like Harry.
He had no hesitation.”
England launch their title defence at home to Scotland on February 6 and Jones hinted that Bath prop Beno Obano, above, the third uncapped member of the squad, could feature.
The way Jones spoke about Coventry-born Odogwu suggests there could be a role for him as well as a gamechanger off the bench.
“Every time he plays he’s got something about him,” the Australian said of Odogwu.
“One of the things Bob Dwyer [former Australia coach] taught me about selection was to look for those players that can be world class at something.
“He can be world class in terms of line-breaking.”
Jonathan Joseph and Jack Willis were left out of the squad, as was Kyle Sinckler – though the prop will come in once he has served a twogame ban. The presence of four Bath players was only possible after theWest Country club learnt what they thought was a mass Covid outbreak was in fact a testing error. Bath chief executive Tarquin McDonald said yesterday that it had been a “scary” time.
“Thankfully it was a false alarm, though the impact was significant and highly disruptive,” McDonald said.