Les from tournament epicentre
England hotel for the open training session and had got his picture taken with Jones. “He was very polite and friendly,” he said. “But his coaches seemed a bit nervous.”
Some of the players gathered in the main dining room of the hotel to watch Japan’s victory over Scotland, while others watched it in their rooms. There was little evidence of World Cup fever in the nearby bars and restaurants either.
Earlier, England players had enjoyed a day of rest and recuperation. Some played golf, others went for a coffee, visited a shopping mall, or went to the beach. Others relaxed in the onsen, a Japanese hot spring, at the hotel, some visited the shrine at Aoshima island, while some simply went for an afternoon nap.
Yet, if there has been an almost surreal atmosphere here, lacking any sense of World Cup carnival or fever, Jones has relished the return to the place where he plotted South Africa’s downfall when he was Japan coach ahead of the 2015 World Cup. He likes the way the facility is set up, with the pitch and gym next to each other, just a short walk from the hotel.
Jones has viewed the past few days almost as a mini pre-season
– a mix of tough training and downtime so that his players will go into Saturday’s quarter-final against Australia fresh and energised. There remains a question over whether the cancellation of the France match, which would have been England’s first proper test of the tournament, has left Jones’s squad not as battle-hardened as they should be going into the knockout stages.
If the answer is only likely to come on Saturday at the Oita Stadium as England seek to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2007, George Ford, who is set to start at fly-half, insists that the time in Miyazaki has been well spent. One senses England’s hopes of success will also ride significantly on the availability of Billy Vunipola and Jack Nowell, who are returning from ankle and hamstring injuries respectively. Both face fitness tests following the training session in Oita tomorrow.
“We have had two brilliant sessions,” said Ford. “Then we had a great recovery day, so all in all it’s been positive for us. We had a pretty intense session [on Saturday]. We had some great meetings last night and got some detail for this week. It is the lads’ responsibility to make sure the attitude and mindset is right.”
Neal Hatley, England’s scrum coach, added: “We knew we could potentially lose a game, so these are the scenarios that Eddie and Steve [Borthwick] had first-hand knowledge of from having been with Japan. The focus immediately shifts to what we could do on Friday and Saturday. Nothing replicates a Test match, but from an intensity point of view we got pretty close to that on Saturday.
“We have a lot of plans in place and it’s up to us and the players to make sure they’re ready to go.”