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Eddie Jones eyes shock positional switch for Jack Nowell
By Peter Thompson
Eddie Jones has suggested he could pick Jack Nowell at openside flanker and play nine forwards in an alternative approach ahead of England's Six Nations campaign.
The versatile Nowell, who plays for Exeter Chiefs, has lined up at wing, centre and full-back, with both club and country taking advantage of his versatility.
Jones raised eyebrows after naming his Six Nations squad on Thursday, saying the 25-year-old could feature as a forward as he ponders an alternative approach with the World Cup looming on the horizon.
Asked what position he sees Nowell in, the England head coach replied: "Seven."
The Australian added: "He is definitely an option at seven. We haven't tried him out but he is definitely an option, because he has great ball-carrying, great tackling skill; he puts his head over the ball, he’s a tough little bloke.
"He's a great option. He can play wing, 13, 15 or seven for us."
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Watch: Eddie Jones discusses his 35-man squad
Jones added: "There are great opportunities in the game to change it and we're looking at opportunities to change it.
"Maybe one of the opportunities is nine forwards. There is no reason why you can't play nine forwards. He [an additional forward] could stand on the blindside wing.
"When Japan played Georgia in the final warm-up game before the 2015 World Cup, we played nine forwards and no-one knew.
"The game has become so orthodox, so we have to look at opportunities to change it. Jack Nowell is the one who stands out. Tom Curry and Sam Underhill are the opposite (forwards who could shift into the back line).
"They are as quick as Nowell. They could play in a number of positions on the field."
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Go to commentsThink we have to accept we have been on the slide for a while now.Still interesting to see the repeated media pieces about the myth of the ABs slipping-I would say slipped past tense.In part don’t we have to give credit for the improvement of other nations particularly Ireland?Isnt that good for the game?Are we beginning to feel the impact of losing the Boks from Super rugby and maybe soon TRC?I would agree we are also ran right now so will be interesting to see how we progress-assuming we do!Isnt that part of sport though to be in improvement mode?Back to the stats though I think the Boks were under 60% leading into 2019?Now with the focus on the RWC does it matter so much what you are doing between tournaments?You just get through your group(remembering the ABs qualified 2nd in 2023)and then you have 3 matches to win the thing.
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