Jones hints he could start 9 England forwards against Georgia
England boss Eddie Jones has teased he could next weekend reprise a selection tactic he successfully used previously against Georgia with Japan in 2015 - picking an extra forward on the wing so that he could have nine forwards on the pitch to help outmuscle the traditionally physical Eastern Europeans.
Jones' England host the Georgians next Saturday at Twickenham in their Autumn Nations Cup opener and queries about the visitors' noted physicality in their pack jogged memories in the coach of his five-year-old victory against them with Japan.
Georgia had beaten the Japanese 35-24 in November 2014 in Tbilisi, but Jones pulled off an upset in the rematch ten months later, selecting Hendrik Tui - normally a No8 - on the wing to add some heft to his team's level of physicality.
That 13-10 warm-up win at Gloucester was followed 14 days later by one of the greatest shocks ever in World Cup history, the Japan Miracle of Brighton win over South Africa.
Tui was restored to No8 for that triumph over the Springboks, but the successful repositioning experiment is something Jones suggested he could now use again as he wants England to develop hybrid players who can double up and play as both a forward and a back.
"They're the fathers of wrestling. They are all about manhood, they're all about being physical, they have made their way into the top 15 in the world through having a dominant scrum, a tough forward pack, hard running backs and we anticipate the same from them," said Jones, looking ahead to next weekend's game against the Georgians after clinching Six Nations title success last weekend in Rome.
"They [Georgia] didn't scrum well against Scotland [they lost 48-7 on October 23] but I'm sure they will improve from that. I remember last time we played them for Japan before the World Cup in 2015 we played with nine forwards, such was the strength of their pack.
"Maybe I will consider doing the same again, which would give you [the media] plenty to write about. We had eight forwards in the pack and a ninth forward who could play as a forward. We played nine forwards and six backs."
Asked could this tactic be adopted by England, Jones continued: "100 per cent, mate. We'll just wait and see. Maybe Ollie Thorley, maybe Ben Earl - there are a number of guys we are trying to make into hybrid players."
Jones' recollection of his previous results wasn't exactly correct, his scorelines both skewed from those Japan-Georgia encounters, while he also got his year wrong when recollecting Barcelona's use of a false nine in a Champions League football final win over Manchester United. However, the premise was still clear: Jones is open to outside-the-box thinking to try and make England better.
"We won 16-9 (sic)," he said incorrectly when asked if his use of nine Japan forwards was a success against Georgia. "The previous time we played them we got pumped 25-12 (sic). It worked brilliantly so it [the tactic] might be out again. We have just got to find a bigger sized No9 shirt. Next week we'll have to find one if we decided to go down that course.
"We have got to look at how we can keep improving the game. Tradition says you have eight forwards and seven backs. That seems right and it probably is right, but there is no reason why we can't look at that. When Barcelona beat Manchester United in the Champions League, was it 1999? (sic, 2009), they played the false nine. There is no reason why you can't do that in rugby, play a false ten for instance, or play a false winger and create a different position.
"We're looking to do that because we know that to become the team we want to become we have got to keep improving and we have got to keep looking at the edge. So these ideas are things that we take seriously and we look at to see how we can improve the side - and maybe the Georgia game is an opportunity to do that, play a different way."
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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