Jones explains an England team that includes Marchant back at No13
Eddie Jones has explained his logic behind this week’s latest midfield reshuffle, the England coach opting to promote Joe Marchant from the bench to start against Ireland on Saturday and demote Elliot Daly to the replacements. The pair have been exchanging the No13 jersey between them all through the 2022 Guinness Six Nations.
Daly wore that outside centre England shirt in the opening round loss to Scotland, Marchant took it for the round two win versus Italy and then after Manu Tuilagi was a late injury withdrawal from the midfield with Henry Slade set to start at No13 against Wales in round three, Daly stepped up from the bench to play in that role with Slade moving one positon in to No12.
However, Jones has now flipped the starting selection once more, reverting to the 12/13 combination of Slade and Marchant that ran out to start for England in the February 13 match in Rome. “Joe is a specialist 13 who can play on the wing, he is very good under the high ball,” explained the England coach at his Thursday media briefing.
“I just think he might give us a bit more direct carry. Elliot likes to play more out the back and against Ireland the carriers are going to be through so he [Marchant] gives is that bit more of a carry through than Elliot does.”
Marchant replacing Daly in the England midfield was one of three changes Jones announced to his starting XV from the win over Wales. Jamie George takes over at hooker in place of Luke Cowan-Dickie, who had his operation on Monday to mend a significant knee injury, while Sam Simmonds is back at the starting No8 in place of Alex Dombrandt for the first time since the tournament opener away to Scotland on February 5.
Dombrant tested positive for covid last Friday at the England training camp in Bristol and this Thursday was the first time he training with the squad since then. “He [Dombrandt] is in good shape. He trained well today so he is ready to finish for us. He has been doing training by himself that we have been able to monitor but team training is a different kettle of fish and he got through that okay so we are pleased that he is available for selection.
“He [Simmonds] is a powerful character, he is a carrier, he is a very aggressive defender and particularly the way Ireland attack, he is going to be important around that ten area.”
Jones placed no significance on Maro Itoje this week being picked in the No4 jersey that he last wore against the Scots – he was at blindside in Rome and at No5 against the Welsh. Usually, wearing No4 suggests a player will be scrummaging on the loosehead side of the scrum rather than behind the tighthead in the No5 jersey.
The coach, though, made mention of the impact Joe Launcbury could potentially make from the bench. Not since the December 2020 Autumn Nations Cup final extra-time win over France has the lock been involved in an England matchday 23.
“Really pleased with his progress. He has had a tough time, suffered a serious leg injury, came back and then had another serious leg injury and particularly his work around the maul, I don’t think there is a better player in the UK than him so he gives us a particular advantage in that area.”
Having originally named a 36-man squad last Sunday night, Jones cut that to 26 on Tuesday evening and his matchday 23 announcement on Thursday meant that the uncapped Alfie Barbeary, Ollie Chessum and Joe Heyes have missed out. Heyes had been providing tighthead cover with Kyle Sinckler’s training time limited this week.
The general narrative leading into Saturday’s match is how the visiting Ireland are supposedly favourites, a consensus that Jones helped fuel himself with remarks on Monday about how he viewed Andy Farrell’s squad as the more cohesive team.
Farrell named an Ireland team on Thursday containing six changes from their win over Italy and an “explosive” bench containing four 2021 Lions. Asked about that selection, Jones replied: “We are more concerned about ourselves, but what I do know is they [Ireland] are red-hot favourites.
“I went into a coffee shop yesterday [Wednesday] and the girl says that Irish team must be good, all their ex-players think they are going to win the game, all the ex-England players think they are going to win the game so they must be a pretty good team. How are you feeling? I said just give me the coffee, please.”
Both England and Ireland have two wins and a loss apiece as they try to challenge unbeaten France for the title, a situation that left Jones describing Saturday’s game as akin to a cup semi-final. “It’s a semi-final, one of the two teams will progress to the final which is the last game (on March 19), so both teams know what is at stake but if you read the papers there is only one team that has got any chance of winning it.
“Our attack has been progressing really well,” he added. “We have increased our run metres by 40 per cent. What we haven’t been good at is finishing those attack raids into the opposition 22 so we have been doing a little bit of work on that, just a little bit more cohesion, a little bit more understanding of each other’s play.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful 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!
3 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 …
30 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
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments