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Is anyone holding Eddie Jones to account? - Andy Goode

By Andy Goode
Eddie Jones /PA

It might seem a bit early in the side’s evolution but Eddie Jones and his ‘new England’ have a make or break fortnight ahead of them.

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With their two toughest Six Nations fixtures still to come, England can still win the tournament but they could also finish on the same number of wins as last year when a review was considered necessary.

That debrief of the disastrous 2021 Six Nations campaign felt like a case of the RFU needing to be seen to be doing something and, although it stated that all future debriefs will be informed by “external rugby experts”, it does still feel like there isn’t really anyone to hold Jones to account.

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Conor O’Shea is the RFU’s director of performance and the only one high up in the organisation who might have the rugby IQ and gravitas to challenge Eddie but I doubt he has that power or that’s his place in the hierarchy.

Unless England lose both of their upcoming games by 30 points, I don’t think Jones will lose his job and I don’t think he should given how close we are to a World Cup and how long he’s spent with full control of the setup but we have to see progress against Ireland and France. Heavy defeats at Twickenham and in Paris and you just never know.

One thing to come out of last year’s Six Nations debrief was the need to deepen “alignment between England Rugby performance and professional clubs” and Jones is picking on Premiership form more now than ever before. Now the style needs to come too.

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The axis of Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall and Marcus Smith that started against Wales is such an exciting one in attack but England made just two linebreaks and scored just one try, with the legitimacy of that being questioned as well.

Whether they are still settling into the England environment, aren’t quite trusted yet by Eddie or aren’t being allowed to express themselves remains to be seen and only time will tell but they do appear to be playing with the shackles on at the moment.

Dombrandt England
(Photo by Steve Bardens/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

It’s an age-old problem in sport whether you pick players to fit a system or select a team and fit the system around them. England are selecting players who play a certain way for their clubs and now they need to be empowered to do the same for their country.

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There are also a trio of assistant coaches in Martin Gleeson, Anthony Seibold and Richard Cockerill only just getting their feet under the table, and we know there’s a high turnover under Jones in that area, but we need to see evidence of the evolution in the game plan.

Aside from the Italy match, England have scored just two tries in this Six Nations and let a 17-10 lead slip against Scotland and allowed Wales to come back from 17-0 down to make it nervy at the death.

The attack is set to face two of the sternest tests in world rugby in the form of Andy Farrell’s Ireland and Shaun Edwards’ French defence. England should be able to hold their own physically but we need to see a combination of the attacking shape they must be working on and the players being given the freedom to play what’s in front of them.

Marcus Smith
Marcus Smith is at his most dangerous when given space in midfield (Photo by Getty Images)

Smith obviously looks very comfortable at Harlequins and slotted in pretty well to the Lions setup in the summer, albeit in just one tour appearance against not top level opposition, so we just need to see that in an England shirt.

Rassie Erasmus did take over as South Africa head coach, in addition to his duties as director of rugby, following the sacking of Allister Coetzee in February 2018 and went on to win the World Cup around 18 months later so there is a precedent.

I don’t expect a similar thing to happen at all with Eddie Jones, who is leaving after the 2023 World Cup anyway, but if the performance isn’t there and two heavy defeats come, then questions will obviously be asked and something more than last year’s debrief may be required.

A second successive fifth place finish and a fourth title under Jones are both still possible outcomes with a couple of rounds to play and England have freshened things up over the course of the past 12 months but it feels like a watershed fortnight is ahead.

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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