At Twickenham Stadium on Friday morning Eddie Jones discussed his 33-man training squad for their three-day camp in Oxford next week. In just over a month’s time he will name his squad for the three Old Mutual Wealth autumn international matches and as you’d expect a clean sweep of victories is his target.
The squad itself is very much for the here and now and solely focused on the first fixtures against Argentina. The players selected in it have been given a 'head start' in terms of selection however Eddie Jones then caveated that with 'well nothing is guaranteed'.
England's British & Irish Lions that are returning to action are being handled on an individual basis and some players have also been told to up their games and find some form. As always England’s head coach was engaging and open about a number of subjects including the subject of ‘popular rugby’ and the competition that they’re developing within the squad.
On the subject of England’s first opponents in the autumn - Argentina - the head coach gave his current thoughts about the side having just met them back in June.
“It's been a tough season for them again. They're trying to find themselves and trying to find that balance between playing traditional Argentinian rugby and moving with the popular rugby at the moment which is obviously led by New Zealand. So they're trying to find that balance but it’s difficult for them.”
This led him into elaborating on the term ‘popular’ rugby. As we all know by now the Australian is not one to follow suit for the sake of it and his elaboration on the subject highlighted that once again.
“It’s popular mate but it doesn’t mean that it’s right. Spending your whole life on your iPhone is popular, that doesn’t mean that it’s right. There’s a certain sort of rugby that we need to play to win the World Cup and it’s not going to be popular rugby. We’ll play the rugby that suits us. We will play our own rugby. We don't need to copy New Zealand.”
One clear message from the squad announcement was that every player will continue to be kept on their toes, whether they are the most or least experienced there. Not for the first time the Australian left a spot of ambiguity in the air when it came to the captaincy and Dylan Hartley’s hold on it.
“We’ll see how he is at the camp. He understands that every time he comes in it’s like an audition, if he keeps doing the job well he’s got the job for that period of time. But he’s got good hookers underneath him biting at his ankles.
“Jamie George is a good player, Dunn has impressed us for Bath, a good, strong, competitive player. Luke Cowan-Dickie will come back from injury shortly so there’s plenty of competition there.”
The head coach continued to focus on the competition that has now developed within the squad. It's crystal clear that with every month that goes by this level of competition is increasing significantly and that was the aim of selecting the squad that he did for the June tour to Argentina.
“That’s the great thing, if you look across the squad, there’s real competition for places and no player can feel like they can just turn up and go through the business. You know, bowl your 10 overs for 30 runs and be happy. You can’t do that anymore for England, you’ve got to get there, you’ve got to compete and be at your best. Because the only way we’re going to be the best team in the world is if we’ve got that, and that’s what we’re moving towards.”
Of those not selected in his squad it was the turn of Exeter Chiefs’ Sam Simmonds to be name checked by the 57-year-old. The young back row forward was the player who was highlighted as a standout Premiership individiaul not included in the training group. Once singled out the assessment was that the Exeter Chief had ‘been impressive’ and ‘done well’. Interestingly Eddie Jones also sees him as a seven for England as opposed to a No.8.
Finally when it came to looking further ahead towards Rugby World Cup 2019 England's head coach highlighted that he’s keeping his eye out for something specific over the next year or so.
“What I would like to find is someone like a Milner-Skudder, someone who comes out of the blue and gives you something so different in a World Cup year. I reckon now we have 80% of the squad about right but we’re are looking for the X-factor rookie to come out. There’s a place for that sort of player and it could be someone like Marcus Smith, who knows?”
