'It's no disruption at all' - Jones defends England backline shake-up
Eddie Jones insists the England backline has what it takes to face down Ireland’s aerial threat after being forced into a reshuffle for Sunday’s Twickenham collision.
After two starts at full-back, George Furbank has been ruled out of the pivotal Guinness Six Nations showdown by a long-standing groin and hip injury that sees Elliot Daly restored to the number 15 jersey.
The vacancy on the left wing created by Daly’s move is filled by Jonathan Joseph, who will mark his 50th cap by making his first Test start in the position having made two replacement appearances there.
One of Ireland’s strengths is the kicking game directed by Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton and their ability to challenge for the ball in the air, but Jones insists England have an accomplished trio patrolling the backfield.
“It’s no disruption at all. Elliot has played a lot of Test football at 15, so he welcomes the opportunity. We don’t feel he has got a deficiency (under the high ball),” Jones said.
“Jonathan has played on the wing for us before. He could play 12, 13 or on the wings. We used him on the wings during the World Cup, he’s a versatile player.
“He’s a great defender, a great defender in space, and he’s got good jumping skills.”
Jones stated that Furbank’s run of two caps has been interrupted by a troublesome injury, yet the Northampton rookie is one of two reserves for Twickenham.
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“George is just not quite right. Rather than risk him – he couldn’t train yesterday (Thursday) – we felt like we were better off resting him this weekend,” Jones said.
“He has a long-term groin and hip issue that’s he had for many a year, and just needed to give it some time.”
There are four changes in personnel and two positional switches to the side that defeated Scotland 13-6 in the Calcutta Cup a week after falling to France in Paris.
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Manu Tuilagi returns at outside centre after winning his battle with a minor groin strain sustained in the Six Nations opener that forced him to miss the trip to Murrayfield.
Henry Slade is also present after two months out with an ankle injury but the Exeter Chiefs playmaker must settle for a place on the bench, which once again sees a six-two split between forwards and backs.
“We are really happy with the team. It’s a good strong team – good forward pack, good backs. It’s great to have Manu and Henry back in the 23,” Jones said.
“They are both quality players. They have proven that over the last couple of seasons, so having those two back is a really good bonus for us. Manu is fresh, ready to go.”
The two-way duel for scrum-half duties has been won by Ben Youngs, who ousts Willi Heinz.
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Courtney Lawes displaces Lewis Ludlam at blindside flanker with the young Northampton Saint missing out on the 23 altogether, while Joe Marler comes in for Mako Vunipola at loosehead prop.
Vunipola has returned home to Tonga for family reasons, creating a vacancy in the front row, but Tuilagi’s comeback compensates for the loss of his gainline-busting power.
England must defeat Ireland to remain in Six Nations title contention, while Andy Farrell’s men are chasing the Grand Slam.
“It’s the next game so it’s the biggest one. It’s as simple as that. We have nothing to look forward to after that, nothing to look forward to before that,” Jones said.
PA
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 …
29 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!😭😭😭 !!!
29 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
29 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.
29 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.
29 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