Eddie Jones flings final round grenade at 'tired' Wales
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.
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.
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“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.
“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.
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
It was the strangest result ever. Etzebeth should've been yellow card for his cynical retiring move and a penalty try. Birth second half tries by the Allblacks were fantastic and the TMO operating outside the law to rule out the first try was egregious. Yes, the boks got the win but it was through some bizarre officiating that allowed them to sneak home against 14 men that dominated them. The quieter Bok supporters know and acknowledge the Allblacks were the better and dominant side. Justifying the win because they beat a pre world cup Allblacks selection is silly.
204 Go to commentsA very English thing to do hey Courtney, blerrie kant
4 Go to commentsIt sounds like Andrew is trying to convince himself or has just lost all perspective. The team did look jaded for the last couple of games of the six nations but a few things were wrong there. Italy tackled their hearts out and made Ireland work hard for every try. Outsmarted by Scotland? Huh? Ireland got held up over the line about 4 times. Scotland did nothing on attack the whole game other than one breakaway near the end. A recharge and reset is needed which they hopefully will have had before the SA your.
7 Go to commentsIncluding SA and Argie teams was great for the quality of rugby, but middle of the night games and player travel/ jet lag make that unworkable. I think that SA in Europe and Argie building an American league with USA, Canada etc would be better long term. If Oz can't sustain Rebels then next cab off the rank should be a Japanese team. Keep regional comps to time zones, both club and test rugby. Then existing test windows for test tours plus RWC.
6 Go to commentsMisogynists have feelings too!
1 Go to commentsCrowd sizes of the URC v the Premiership must be a big factor.
1 Go to commentsWell you’ve made a proper tit of yourself, haven’t you! 😂
173 Go to commentsBen it's beyond their comprehension-
204 Go to commentsThanks Sam. Interesting read. Harder or easier for Parling to come into a completely new setup where performance was abysmal last time out? I’d suggest easier to be better but, as you suggest, will be a lot to do with how much latitude he’s granted. Hopefully all he needs. With hybrids like Holloway, Hannigan, Swinton and Leota as options at 6 we have the basics for a strong lineout. BPA returning means we have good options at 2 also with Faessler, Porecki and Uelese, although Jordan is a scrumming beast rather than a dart thrower. I’m typically a pessimist or realist but that’s never applied to the Wallabies
1 Go to commentsMad how this somehow contained absolutely zero information.
4 Go to commentsI’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
2 Go to commentsThe better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances? In 2023, the ABs at least didn’t give up a lead to lose. They just couldn’t execute to get the points and take the lead. This Baby AB result points to a choke - letting the game slip through your fingers. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby’s dad - “If you’re not 1st you’re last!” Loosely translated - if you didn’t win, you’re a loser.
10 Go to commentsWith Stuart Lancaster at the helm, Racing 92 looks more and more a mercenaries club like Toulon some years ago and they are not even performing despite all the money on offer.
4 Go to commentsCouple of things BS missed: wind was behind the Baby Blacks in the first half. Baby Boks got points from a scrum penalty in the final quarter against this ‘dominant pack’, and left three points on the park after a missed penalty.
10 Go to commentsSensible thoughts on this, Brett. Also worth considering we’ve sold 60k tickets for a game between the Rebels and the Lions next year. Got to be roughly $10m in ticket and game day revenue there.
6 Go to commentsUnsuccessful bitter ex Ulster player taking a pop shot at a side that isn't including his consistently poor mates up north
7 Go to commentsHis decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
4 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seems like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
4 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
7 Go to comments