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The Eddie Jones ultimatums that moulded Courtney Lawes
Courtney Lawes has credited Eddie Jones for giving his career a second wind as he prepares to joins the ranks of England Test centurions. Lawes leads his country into Saturday’s Rugby World Cup send-off against Fiji at Twickenham playing for the head coach – Steve Borthwick – who was also his captain when he made his debut against Australia in 2009.
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The 34-year-old back row warrior has shown tenacity to overcome a host of significant injuries, but his reinvention from defensive hitman to model blindside flanker was not a reward for his efforts alone.
First inspired by Northampton forwards coach Dorian West as he was finding his feet as an 18-year-old second row, it was not until Jones took charge of England for the 2016 Six Nations that his game evolved again.
“In my early days, it was Dorian West who had the biggest impact. I say that begrudgingly because he will love that!” Lawes said. “Dorian was a big influence on me, helping me get that bit of edge and to become a tough player. He really built that into me. Then later on it was definitely Eddie.
“When I stopped progressing as a player he was the one who came in and really gave me the boot to push me on to be the player I could be. And I’m very thankful for that. He dropped me first, but then he gave me a couple of ultimatums that I took away and worked at.
“He told me I needed to keep hitting people and I needed to carry better, become the ball-carrier I was when I was younger. I just started carrying more and in training, I would do a lot more extras with footwork and handling tips out the back.
“I’m not as heavy as the big boys like David Ribbans, who is 124kgs and can run straight over you. I’m not quite that. I like to use a bit of footwork, hit better lines and use the big lads when they are available.”
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Lawes will be hoping that his jubilation at becoming the fifth man to win 100 England caps is matched by evidence of improvement in a side that is reeling from four defeats in five matches.
Borthwick’s England have lurched from a disappointing Six Nations to a poor Summer Nations Series and need a morale-boosting win against Fiji ahead of their critical World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9.
Lawes insists squad and management are operating with a unified purpose in the hope of turning the ship around with the players now having more input. “When you have a coaching staff like we have, you get on board quite quickly with the strategies being put in place,” Lawes said.
“What we have started to do is get the players’ perspective on it and how we can tweak and change it to best suit our strengths. We will continue to press on, especially in attack which we have not been good at yet. We really think we will come good.
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“The only thing I can really say is the truth, which is we are literally giving absolutely everything we have got to better this team and to become the squad we can. And sometimes that can even make you not play as well.
“You can stiffen up, but we are learning as a team how to work together, what our strengths and weaknesses are and how we can put that on our opposition and drill it home.
“When they do that ball is going to start rolling in our favour because everybody is pulling in the same direction. That’s not always the case, unfortunately.
“You understand when a team is only out for the team when you have got a number of individuals that are only out for themselves. And that is when you know you have got an issue, and that is not an issue that this team has.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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