1
Jones and his England staff shake off 6-month Test cobwebs... by coaching a Championship club
By Liam Heagney
Eddie Jones has been busy scouting players in person by attending multiple Gallagher Premiership matches in recent weeks but the England boss and his coaching staff have also been occupied with getting their on-field coaching back up to scratch - by spending two days at Championship club Ealing.
Jones and co have not had any coaching to do since England's early March Guinness Six Nations win over Wales and rather than come into next month's Barbarians match week cold ahead of a winter schedule featuring five Test games over the following six weekends, they took sessions at Trailfinders earlier this week to get up to speed after their six-month lay-off.
Jones' main Championship interest in 2020/21 will be Saracens, given how players such as Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, the Vunipola brothers and other England regulars have stayed with the automatically relegated club rather than spend a loan year at a higher club level elsewhere.
However, having previously visited the ambitious Ealing on a number of occasions, Jones declared they now have their best team ever and he likes the overall look of them as a proper rugby club.
"It's great to be back here," said Jones after getting his coaching eye back in on the Vallis Way pitch. "Alex (Codling, the head coach) has kindly allowed us to train the team for two days because we haven't had any practice since the Wales game, so it has been excellent.
"It's fantastic to be involved in rugby again. Everyone was thinking when is the next opportunity to be involved in rugby. We are really appreciative of what Ealing does for us. Alex has kindly invited us down on a number of occasions and for us, we get coaching experience, we get to see what is happening in the Championship and the players hopefully benefit in some way.
"I feel there is a real buzz around the (Ealing) squad this year, real energy. The quality of the player and the quality of the connection between the players is outstanding. We have been here four or five times now and this is the best Ealing side I have seen.
"Ealing has been very kind to us and hopefully we can continue to come down. What I can see is a real rugby club is developing here. You have got the two groups in the academy, I saw those boys training very hard. You have got a good senior squad, you've got great facilities. It's a real tribute to the club in how they are building themselves."
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' weaknesses
3
All Blacks player ratings vs Italy
4
Scotland's Sione Tuipulotu admits anger at Australian rugby
5
Latest Comments
GB = England, Scotland, Wales. UK = England, Wales, Scotland, NI
Nothing to stew son.
Go to commentsTupaea is a natural 12. What is it with you kiwis and playing players out of their positions. Is that some sort of national sport? Is that on purpose? You’ve got an utility back and a winger at 12 and 13 respectivelly. You played Savea at 8 for ages, wasting the potential of one of the world’s three best players in the last 4-5 years.
ALB is equally effective at 12 and 13, so why not have him or Tupaea at 12, and Proctor at 13? God forbid you’d have two midfielders playing at their natural positions! There must be a law in New Zealand, that prohibits that. Small sample size, but Proctor walked on water in his international debut at 13.
But the kiwi selectors seem to love Rieko’s speed, so as long as the horse is fast enough, they decided they’ll teach him to climb trees anyway.
You don’t have a better 10 than BB and Mo’unga. DMac is a more instinctive attacker (almost as good as Mo’unga … almost), but doesn’t have BB’s game-controlling skills. You have and will lose games due to his aimless kicking and spur-of-the-moment inventions none of his team mates are able to read at the international pace. Works okay at Super Rugby level, doesn’t mean it’s transferable to test matches. But hey, suit yourself.
Go to comments