England fail to tick key boxes for Jones
● Hosts miss presence of rested Farrell and Itoje in win over Argentina and will need to improve against buoyant Australia
As the umpteenth question came Eddie Jones’s way about the selection or otherwise of Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje for this weekend’s must-see match-up with Australia, the England head coach mimed himself as a batsman marking out his crease. Jones adores his cricket, and with his old sparring partner Michael Cheika hoving into view this week at a time of Ashes confrontations Down Under, the coming days could be replete with sledging and leather-onwillow diversions.
Do not be distracted, though. This is a time for Jones, pictured, to demonstrate his long decades of rugby nous. When he rested Farrell and Itoje for Saturday’s 21-8 win over Argentina he did more than just deny two of England’s ordinarily nailed-on starters the £22,000 apiece they would have earned by playing. The Tasmanian who took his record in two years in charge of England to 20 wins from 21 matches passed the onus to others to lead; he demanded that Henry Slade and Sam Underhill, among the more callow bearers of the red rose, deliver a fully-functioning operation at the breakdown and in midfield. But neither of those key boxes was ticked, and the spectacle suffered as a result.
Some in the Twickenham crowd may have wondered at the efficacy of confining the famously vocal Farrell to the role of water boy, ferrying refreshments and instructions. “Being good at our basics was the main message coming on,” said Slade, which was a telling commentary, if much less arrestingly perfunctory than the f-words Jones was seen on TV to have unleashed when Underhill conceded a secondhalf penalty, playing the ball while clearly off his feet.
The Australia team coached by Cheika will come to Twickenham emboldened by a fourtry win in Wales, and with playmakers all over their back division, and indeed in their back row, with the quasi-centre Michael Hooper as captain. Underhill tackled Argentina like a human jack-hammer, and he must have springs hidden in his boots, the way he rejoins the next ruck so quickly, but the wider linking skills of a proper flanker were not so evident. Slade said, quite reasonably, he needed more time to dovetail with George Ford and Jonathan Joseph.
“Selection is a moveable feast,” said Jones, just after stating he had planned the three autumn matches together in advance. “It changes dependent on your needs. It was a difficult game for him [Slade] to play because we didn’t get quick ball but certainly there was enough there to say he could be an option for us.” The same could be said for Alex Lozowski who, as is often the way, came on as a substitute and almost immediately picked a dream of a line between two tiring Argentina forwards in the move that led to Semesa Rokoduguni’s try from Slade’s long pass, and an unassailable England lead of 21-3.
It was compelling to hear the Fijian-born sometime Army tank driver Rokoduguni relate on Remembrance Weekend how his Caledonian colleagues in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards had been grudgingly cheering on the English in his honour. “Some of the guys in the regiment have been casualties,” said Rokoduguni, “so for me to be out there representing them made it an emotional day for me.”
0 Semesa Rokoduguni touches down for England’s second try against Argentina at Twickenham.