World Cup wannabes
game, but this week — and his team — have been built with next year’s World Cup in mind.
They open their tournament on a Sunday evening against Tonga in Sapporo, in Japan’s far north, and play four days later against the USA in Kobe, 930 miles to the south. There will be little time to prepare and the schedule will require a high turnover of play and a stretch of Jones’s squad. After that, England will only play on the weekends, with plenty of scope for rest, for the remainder of the World Cup.
So, they researched Japan the morning after beating New Zealand, then left camp until Tuesday afternoon. They have trained just twice this week and, with a little introduction to Japanese culture, via Tuesday’s sushi night, Jones has an eye on the World Cup, too.
Some of those given a chance by Jones this weekend might not get another. Joe Cokanasiga offers something England’s excellent set of wingers do not, but must prove fast that he is an option for 2019, not 2023. On the bench lurks Ted Hill, a 19-year-old who has started just one Premiership game, but who Jones compares to Reuben Thorne, the former All B l a c ks c a p t a i n . He wa s o r i g i n a l ly selected as an apprentice and is still officially in Worcester’s Academy and it is hard to believe Jones will invest too many precious pre-World Cup caps in him if he does not immediately star.
Jones will be interested to see how his usual finishers start, notably Jamie George and Danny Care, and how his usual starters finish, like Dylan Hartley and Henry Slade. He talks about “order changes”, and they will definitely be needed at the World Cup. His depth of leadership, with George Ford and Maro Itoje in charge, with Elliot Daly as a trusted lieutenant.
But most of all, Jones wants more players to prove they can play in more positions. “At the World Cup, as you have seen on so many occasions, you need players to be able to play multiple positions,” he said. “We are trying to get ourselves to where we are covering different options. At the World Cup, you don’t know what is going to happen and they (the players) are going to be tested.”
Can Mark Wilson have the same impact at open-side as he has at No8? Will Alex Lozowski deliver on his promise at centre (he should play some of the game at both 12 and 13)? Most notably, can Jack Nowell be the Conrad Smith-style outside centre Jones wants him to be?
Last week, England showed they could go toe-to-toe with the All Blacks’ best. Now it is time to make a statement and show they pass their depth test, too.
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