On Friday morning Eddie Jones announced his squad Six Nations Championship squad and his first port of call at Twickenham Stadium was to highlight that this is his squad ‘for the first game anyway’. As always the Australian is keeping his players on their toes and we all know that he will make any changes that he sees fit in a flash!
As soon as this weekend's Champions and Challenge Cup matches have been completed the 34 players selected will head off to Portugal for a training camp. During prior breaks between international action we’ve heard England’s head coach articulate his displeasure at the level of performance that he’s seen from his players however this time, by in large, he’s content with their output:
“I've been around to nine of the 12 clubs since the autumn series and the judgement from most of the Directors of Rugby has been quite positive on what the players have brought back. There's been one or two that haven't fulfilled that responsibility, but I think in the vast majority it's been very good - it's great for English rugby.”
We all know that England are approaching this Six Nations Championship in a very different place to twelve months ago. This time last year Eddie Jones had been in charge for a very short period of time and the memories of their World Cup nightmare were fresh in players' minds. Now the squad are spring boarding into the Championship off an hugely impressive run of victories and as a result their ambition is clear:
"Our aim is to win the Six Nations, we're not trying to hide that but to do that we'll have to prepare for each game very well."
Alongside this aim Eddie Jones also set out the squad's broader goals for the year ahead. The first is to 'improve the depth of the squad' and the second is to 'develop their fundamental skills'. On top of that he's also going to spend ample time addressing another area that will help them on their road to 2019 and that's 'increasing the leadership density of the team'.
Now clearly the injury situation that they find themselves in now should facilitate the first goal and the second will be greatly assisted by the presence of Dr Sherylle Calder - the visual awareness coach that has arrived as a consultant. Sherylle has a proven record within the world of rugby and most of you will remember her name from Sir Clive Woodward's 2003 World Cup winning set up.
As with all goals there are external factors that could hinder them being achieved and in his usual straight talking manner Eddie Jones highlighted those challenges clearly and openly on Friday morning;
“If you read anything in the media at the moment players are talking about Lions, they’re always asked about the Lions. So particularly in 2017 the Lions tour is always a massive attraction but also can be a massive distraction in terms of players focusing on the future rather than focusing on what’s going on at the moment.
"Then you’ve got the expectation of the team - every time someone comes up to you on the street they come up to you and say that you must be fascinated about the game against Ireland because they’re going well. Well Ireland isn’t a concern for us, but if you keep in hearing that then that can get into the back of your head and become a distraction.
"So, we’ve got a lot of distractions in front of us and part of our job as a coaching staff, management staff and the senior players in Portugal is to make sure at the start of the camp in Portugal is to make sure that we get the focus right and that’s beating France.”
"So, we’ve got a lot of distractions in front of us and part of our job as a coaching staff, management staff and the senior players in Portugal is to make sure at the start of the camp in Portugal is to make sure that we get the focus right and that’s beating France.”
From a squad point of view next week's camp in Portugal will be essential in terms of bridging that gap between Premiership rugby and Test rugby and assessing a number of players' fitness levels including captain Dylan Hartley. Personally I still believe that Dylan will lead out England on 4th February but right now England's head coach is keeping his captain on his toes, as he does every player, with the open discussion about the captaincy not being a permanent position.
Now that Eddie Jones has announced his squad Out On The Full's coverage of all things England Rugby will ramp up a notch so look out for more of Eddie Jones' thoughts arriving on Saturday morning and plenty of analysis and discussion in the build up to their opener and beyond.
2017 Six Nations Squad
Forwards: Nathan Catt, Jack Clifford, Dan Cole, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Teimana Harrison, Dylan Hartley, James Haskell, Nathan Hughes, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Joe Marler, Matt Mullan, Kyle Sinckler, Tommy Taylor, Mike Williams & Tom Wood
Backs: Mike Brown, Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Owen Farrell, George Ford Jonathan Joseph, Alex Lozowski, Jonny May, Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Ben Te’o, Anthony Watson, Marland Yarde & Ben Youngs.
2017 Six Nations Squad
Forwards: Nathan Catt, Jack Clifford, Dan Cole, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Teimana Harrison, Dylan Hartley, James Haskell, Nathan Hughes, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Joe Marler, Matt Mullan, Kyle Sinckler, Tommy Taylor, Mike Williams & Tom Wood
Backs: Mike Brown, Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Owen Farrell, George Ford Jonathan Joseph, Alex Lozowski, Jonny May, Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Ben Te’o, Anthony Watson, Marland Yarde & Ben Youngs.
