Play fast and stop living in the past, Eddie!
I Was a little perplexed to pick up the newspaper yesterday and read eddie Jones’s comments about the all Blacks being ‘there for the taking’. I thought the myth around the
new Zealand aura was blown away a long time ago.
there really should be no fear factor of these southern Hemisphere teams and Jones is living in the past by even highlighting it.
england are just as good as new Zealand. the power shift towards the northern Hemisphere is clear to see. five of the six nations teams won their games this weekend and for a long time scotland looked like they were going to make it a clean sweep against the all Blacks.
twickenham is a tough place to come to. We need to start reminding people of that. england do not need
to build up the all Blacks. stuart lancaster’s team beat new Zealand
at home in 2012 and england have won this fixture enough to debunk any myths about the opposition.
there will be the usual chatter around the Haka but, as I’ve said for years, it is no advantage or disadvantage to either team. It is just a fantastic privilege that you should embrace
whether you are a coach, a player or a fan. There is no need for Eddie to bill his team as underdogs.
The All Blacks are in the middle of a long tour and everything plays into English hands. All Eddie needs to do is pick a team that can play quickly. The All Blacks like to play an all-court game but so can England. They should pick a team that will move New Zealand around because they are not used to that. A lot of teams are not brave enough to take them on at their own game.
If England play slowly like they did against Argentina then they will lose. I would stick with Sam Simmonds at No 8, but I would move Maro Itoje to lock and bring more speed into the back-row. And I would keep Jack van Poortvliet at scrum-half because he looks so sharp and brings a pace to the game that Ben Youngs does not have.
I’m not convinced by the three wings Eddie keeps going with. There are some serious speedsters in the Premiership and I don’t think Joe Cokanasiga, Jack Nowell and Jonny May are at the top of the pile. I’d love to see him pick from guys like Tommy Freeman, Adam Radwan, Cadan Murley and Ollie Hassell-Collins.
The All Blacks look to have settled on their best XV — and it was not the team they put out at Murrayfield — but you cannot say the same about England. They seem to be going from game to game and hoping things fall into place.
You need to go head to head against the All Blacks with tough characters who have been there and got the shirt. I would 100 per cent start Owen Farrell at 10 and well done to him as he prepares to win his 100th cap. I love everything about him as a player but he is not a world-beating 12.
I thought Eddie would have learned that lesson after the 2019 World Cup final but he still seems fixated on the idea. He will no doubt stick with Marcus Smith and Farrell but that combination will not fill any top tier team with fear.
If Eddie makes the right calls in terms of selection and coaching then England have the players to get the crowd on their feet and win this game on Saturday. But that is a big if.