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England head coach Eddie Jones found time to fling one final round grenade in the direction of Wales following England’s team announcement this morning.
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England will win the Six Nations title if they regain the Calcutta Cup and Wales fail in their Grand Slam bid against Ireland in Cardiff.
Jones has seized the opportunity to crank-up the pressure on Warren Gatland’s men.
“It’s a fascinating close to the tournament. You have three teams who can win it,” Jones said.
“Wales are a very good team. They are very well coached, great credit to them for what they have done – but they are starting to look a bit tired.
Eddie Jones has painful memories of last season's visit to Murrayfield..
Posted by RugbyPass on Tuesday, 12 March 2019
“They have made more tackles than anyone else in the tournament and they are playing against an Ireland side that seems to be peaking at the right time.
“You look at guys like Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose and Peter O’Mahony who weren’t in great form at the start of the tournament but are now starting to come to the fore.
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“I’m sure the crowd will hep Wales overcome that tiredness but its going to be a great game.”
The showdown with Scotland could be Jones’ final Six Nations match with his future beyond the World Cup uncertain.
“Well that’s not for me to decide. Other people decide that. I don’t know,” Jones said.
“The only thing I know is that we have had a great week this week and we are absolutely excited by the prospect of us finishing well.”
Jones hints that Joe Cokanasiga will be part of England’s World Cup squad despite dropping the rookie wing for the climax to the Guinness Six Nations against Scotland.
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A week after being compared to Jonah Lomu by Sir Clive Woodward in response to a bulldozing man of the match display against Italy, Cokanasiga is unable to even secure a place on the bench.
Taking the Fijian-born giant’s place on the right wing is Jack Nowell, who has recovered from a shoulder stinger injury, while Ben Te’o is present as replacement threequarter cover.
Jones explained the shock selection by revealing he has a plan based on the summer’s four World Cup warm-up Tests that will will develop the 21-year-old in time for Japan 2019.
“Joe’s a good, young player and we’re looking after him. He’ll feature very strongly in our plans for the future but we just feel that this week Jack is our best player in that position,” Jones said.
“We’ve got a good plan in place for him. He’ll be ready by the World Cup. I don’t need to reveal my selection plans for the future but I do know he’ll be ready for the World Cup.
“We don’t need to rush him. We’ll bring him through carefully and he’s got a long career ahead of him. I’ve got some reasonable experience doing this.
“Sometimes you let them go and sometimes you pull them back a bit. We just feel it’s right for him this week to not be involved in the matchday squad.
“He’ll still learning from being around the squad and will feature heavily in our warm-up games for the World Cup.”
Jones has reverted to his first choice midfield with Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade paired in the centres outside Owen Farrell, resulting in Te’o’s demotion.
Tuilagi gave rugby on these shores a big boost on Wednesday by agreeing a new two-year contract with Leicester, in the process rejecting a substantial offer from Racing 92 that would have made him unavailable for England.
“Manu’s future is looked after and we’re really happy for him. The improvements will come in his speed, power, timing, his running lines. He will be a real handful for Scotland this weekend,” Jones said.
In total there are four changes in personnel to the XV that battered Italy 57-14 at Twickenham with Ben Moon restored at loosehead prop ahead of Ellis Genge and Mark Wilson displacing Brad Shields at blindside flanker.
Ben Youngs will be making his 85th England appearance to surpass the national record for a scrum-half held by Danny Care.
PA
Comments on RugbyPass
Wow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
1 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
12 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
1 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
1 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
16 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
16 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
16 Go to comments