Eddie Jones must not become dependent on same group of players - Moody
Eddie Jones should “freshen things up” and avoid becoming dependent on the same group of players, according to former England international Lewis Moody.
England’s Six Nations title defence is over following back-to-back defeats against Scotland and France, and the only thing resting on Saturday’s Twickenham clash with Ireland is whether Joe Schmidt’s men can clinch the Grand Slam.
Jones had only lost one of 25 Tests in charge prior to a 25-13 defeat at Murrayfield last month, while Saturday’s 22-16 reverse in Paris handed Ireland the championship.
And Moody, speaking on behalf of Land Rover, the long-standing supporter of rugby at all levels; from grassroots to the elite, has encouraged Jones to be more experimental in the build-up to next year’s Rugby World Cup.
“You don’t play 27 games and have 24 wins without being a very good side that’s got a very good group of coaches behind it,” the World Cup winner told Omnisport. “When defeats happen, the easiest thing is to go and speculate about who should be in and who should be out.
“Everyone expects success, especially from a team who have been so successful.
“But sometimes you just have to freshen things up a bit. Eddie Jones has been a breath of fresh air for England and the media in how he approaches and talks about it.
“If anything, it will probably remind England that you cannot rest on your laurels.
“It always seems to happen with coaches. I certainly played under coaches who became very dependent on certain players because they trust them and they’re invested in the individuals.
“Sometimes you can become too dependent on certain players and you don’t give the other outlying players the opportunities that they need before a big tournament.
“I think this series of defeats will have reminded them that, as good as our strength in depth was prior to this tournament, we’ve now had a series of injuries and actually, with those injuries, we’ve found out that the balance across the squad has been missing, because it means that we’ve not been able to perform at the same level.
“Freshening things up a bit, bringing in a few new players and giving them an opportunity, will be key to how far England go in the next tournament and during the World Cup.”
Heading into the final weekend of the 2018 Championship…
Current #NatWest6Nations standings 👉 https://t.co/D9K06pf0gm pic.twitter.com/EmTeNFdi6p
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 12, 2018
Moody believes Jones missed an opportunity to rotate during the November internationals.
“I think Eddie Jones should have experimented with a few different combinations during the autumn when he had the chance,” Moody added. “Maybe having given Jamie George an opportunity, then tried out a different captain, it would have given Dylan [Hartley] a bit of a break and he’d be fresher coming into this tournament.
“I think in the back row the balance is still missing. I don’t think having three second rows is beneficial to a team that wants to play fast, exciting rugby – as good a six that Courtney Lawes is, he’s a world-class second row and that’s where he should be playing.
“If that means you have to have another quality player on the bench, that’s enormously exciting for the team when that starting player has done all he can and you have another quality player coming off the bench.
“But definitely in the back row there’s a balance that needs looking at.”
Henry Slade, Alec Hepburn and Nick Isiekwe were released back to their clubs by Jones on Tuesday, with a further reduced squad to be announced on Wednesday.
Lewis Moody is a Land Rover ambassador. Land Rover is celebrating its Testimonial Season, with 10 years supporting grassroots rugby in the UK. Follow @LandRoverRugby #WeDealInReal
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments