Force yourselves into Eddie’s plan for Japan
NEALE HARVEY finds England head coach Steve Bates has set his lads a big challenge
England head coach Steve Bates has challenged his Six Nations charges to force their way into Eddie Jones’s reckoning for the 2019 World Cup.
Last year’s junior Red Rose grand slam-winning side featured six players who progressed to Jones’s senior squad – Joe Cokanasiga, Ben and Tom Curry, Nick Isiekwe, Jack Maunder and Zach Mercer – and Bates believes the current crop can follow suit.
England, who boast ten players who featured at the 2017 World Cup in Georgia, kick off their campaign in Italy this Friday and Bates told The Rugby Paper: “People like Mercer, Isiekwe, Maunder and Curry are great role models for this group.
“That’s what we’ve spoken about because if you play well, Eddie Jones is happy to embrace good players with potential – and this is the shop window.
“We’re mirroring the Six Nations and then going into a World Cup, which is a very intense tournament, so if you can come through all of that you’ll have serious senior potential, which is exactly what Eddie is looking for from our guys.”
Alex Seville, Marcus Street, Henry Walker, Dino Lamb, Ben Earl, James Grayson, Will Butler, Gabriel Ibitoye, Ali Crossdale and Tom Parton played in Georgia, while eight members of the England U18s squad that toured Argentina last summer are promoted.
Tom Willis, who has already featured in the Premiership for Wasps this season, is among that fledgling group along with Joe Heyes, Beck Cutting, James Scott, Josh Basham, Sam Moore, Tom Seabrook and Fraser Dingwall. Bates, below, explained: “That connectivity between the U18s and 20s is important to us and they’re a very talented bunch. “We’re about development, but we’re also about winning and we’ll be imparting knowledge of how to put teams under pressure. “It’s amazing how sharp, enthusiastic and hungry this group are so we are aiming to be very competitive and to retain our Six Nations title.” Bates is equally keen on promoting coaches and will be assisted by Anthony Allen (backs), Richard Blaze (forwards) and James Ponton (defence).
He added: “Our coaches have been with the senior team to see how they prepare and Eddie’s attitude to getting them in has been brilliant.
“We’re privileged to take the best bits of that and feel developing young coaches by combining them with young players is the best way forward.
“It’s not a case of us prioritising one at the neglect of another, the whole premise of what we’re doing is to create a vibrant dualpathway.”