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'I don't select players, they select themselves' - Eddie Jones
By Paul Smith
After confirming that none of the senior players discarded from his training squad have been recalled for the first leg of the Autumn Series, Eddie Jones says England are looking to the future.
However, he has also left the door ajar for the likes of Jamie George, George Ford, Jack Nowell, Dan Robson and the Vunipola brothers to force their way back into the 2023 World Cup picture.
“We’ve drawn a line in the sand after the Lions series and are looking to produce a younger squad ready for the World Cup,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean those guys are out of the picture and I’ve been pleased with how they’ve responded at club level and they know where they stand.
“It’s not a new squad as a number of players remain from the previous World Cup campaign and they remain important.
“What we have done is add some youth and enthusiasm and the opportunity for the squad to get better. We know we have to keep improving and we’ve got five campaigns to the World Cup.”
With lock Maro Itoje, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and winger Anthony Watson all leaving the field with injuries over the weekend, some excluded players may win speedy recalls, but Jones declined to discuss this.
“They will all have scans over the next week and we’ll find out whether they are fit in due course,” he said. “We’ll worry about what happens next if it happens.”
After dismissing a query about Owen Farrell’s ongoing hold on the captaincy with a simple “he’s the best man for the job mate,” Jones said all 34 players named for the Jersey camp now have the opportunity to face Tonga.
“We’re looking for players to select themselves,” he said.
“I don’t select them, they select themselves by bringing the basics, understanding their role in the team and how to improve their teammates.
“Jersey is an opportunity for us to get together as a squad. We’ve got a tough autumn campaign in which two of the three sides we face have been together for three months so finding some cohesion in the team and finding a game that suits the team is important.”
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The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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