Jones rules out dropping Farrell after one bad game
Eddie Jones has no intention of dropping Owen Farrell on the strength of Saturday’s defeat by Scotland but insists England’s captain is not immune from demotion.
Farrell’s below-par performance in the Calcutta Cup debacle at Twickenham has led to scrutiny over his place amid concern that his influence on the field has declined due to a slide in form.
Operating behind an outmuscled pack, the Saracens fly-half turned down overlaps in favour of kicking the ball and was powerless to inspire the champions as they floundered in a one-sided start to the Guinness Six Nations.
Jones, however, has made it clear that Farrell will remain in the starting XV for Saturday’s visit of Italy.
When asked if he would drop his skipper, England’s head coach said: “Every player’s up for selection.
“It’s all dependant on form – you look at historical form, present form and you have to make the right decisions for the team and Owen’s no different to any other player.
“Owen was disappointed with his performance against Scotland, like a number of players and like I was in my own performance and we’re all working to improve.
“Owen’s been a highlyconsistent, highly-successful player for us. Like a number of players on Saturday, he
wasn’t at his best. I know there’s a bandwagon.
“He’s an outstanding player and, like any outstanding player, they can have a game where they’re not at their best. Is that a reason to drop the player? I wouldn’t think so.
“We are always trying to make the right assessment. We had to go through a difficult stage with (former captain) Dylan Hartley when his form was tailing off.
“We gave Dylan an amount of time to pick up his form but, due to injury and
a number of other circumstances, it just wasn’t right for the team.
“It’s the same for anyone who’s the captain of the side, they’ve got to keep performing at a high level.
“But having one game where they’re not at the level
expected is not a reason to start speculating on whether he’s going to be dropped or not.”
England have added props Kyle Sinckler and Mako Vunipola to their 28-man squad at the expense of Harry Williams and Tom West.
Lee Johnson criticised the ‘soft underbelly’ of his Sunderland side, and admits he is been left with a goalkeeper dilemma for the games ahead.
Sunderland’s head coach dropped Lee Burge for the visit to Shrewsbury Town, but a Remi Matthews error proved costly as the hosts cancelled out Aiden O’Brien’s early goal and went on to seal a 2-1 win.
That error proved to be the turning point of the contest, but Sunderland were poor right throughout the team in a dismal second-half showing.
Johnson said his players were ‘too timid’ and were second best in too many departments “It’s mega-disappointing,” Johnson said.
"I think the boys are sat in there and maybe believe we were good enough to get a draw, but I’m not so sure myself. I didn’t think we started well enough in terms of our combination play and passing detail.
“We got our noses in front with a goal which was a really good goal, a great finish, and at that point you’re hoping the lads settle a little bit. But I didn’t think we did settle, they showed quite a lot of hustle and we lost too many duels in the middle of the pitch.
“I said, ‘You’ve got to bring your USP to the game as lot more, earlier, and a lot more aggressively’.
“Individual errors of course have cost us again.
But I think it was on the back of too many lost duels, and too many times they skipped by us in the middle of the pitch.
“I think there’s a bit of a slight soft underbelly. I haven’t been here that long, but you’re looking to manage those moments in the game.
"Sometimes it’s quality, sometimes it’s that one that makes the big tackle that sets everybody off. I just thought communication wise, physical contact wise, we were just a bit timid.”
Johnson now faces a big decision as to whether he brings Burge back into the side for the visit of Doncaster Rovers this weekend.
“There was no injury to Lee," he said.
"I just made a selection decision.
“It’s a difficult one, obviously, in terms of what do you do now.
“When I came in, I stuck with Burgey because that was the consistent thing to do – with a back four, both goalkeepers have kept clean sheets.
“You need a strong goalkeeper, I think your goalkeeper is a bit of a spiritual leader in terms of their presence and psychology.
“Remi will be disappointed that he has made a couple of errors, but at least he has owned up to it, he has held his hand up, and that for me is very, very important because then you can rebuild and go again.”
Johnson also had a blunt explanation for the prematch confusion, when Conor McLaughlin and Luke
O’Nien were incorrectly named in the starting XI.
There were echoes of the Papa John’s Trophy clash at Oldham Athletic, when Dion Sanderson was named in the side before the club realised he was cup tied.
"It was a clerical error,” Johnson said.
“We’ll take collective responsibility, but it has happened one too many times.”