Lyn Jones: 'The players are excited, they see an opportunity'

Changes to the qualification process, the coaching of wily Lyn Jones and an improving squad leaves the Netherlands closer than they have ever been to qualifying for a Rugby World Cup.

The last real opportunity came back in 1998 when the men in orange were thrashed 110-0 by England at what was then known as the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield.

Neil Back and Jeremy Guscott both scored four tries as England cantered home against the Dutch, who have been building themselves back up ever since, firstly under Kiwi Zane Gardiner and now Welshman Jones.

Jones has been in charge for 12 games now, winning seven of them. A repeat of last year’s fifth-place finish in his first Rugby Europe Championship campaign this time around would put them into the repechage tournament for the final place at the expanded, 24-team men’s World Cup in Australia in 2027.

Improve on that by reaching the semi-finals of the Rugby Europe Championship and the Netherlands will follow in the footsteps of Chile in 2023 in becoming a World Cup debutant.

The Netherlands couldn’t have asked for a tougher start with a trip to Spain this Sunday followed by another to Georgia, six days later in round two.

Tournament newcomers Switzerland are their final Pool A opponents, in Amsterdam on February 15th, and the Dutch will need to have won at least one of the two previous games by then to stand a chance of claiming a coveted semi-final spot.

“The players are excited, they see an opportunity. If we are not good enough to beat Spain or Georgia at least there is an opportunity to make the repechage and play in a big tournament next year,” said Jones, who coached Russia at the 2019 World Cup.

The Netherlands have run Spain close in the two previous meetings, losing by an aggregate of just 10 points across those fixtures, but they will head to Madrid without full-back Pete Lydon, a former professional player with Rouen and Ealing, who will miss the tournament after injuring his knee ligaments whilst playing for Soyaux-Angoulême

“We lost Pete Lydon at the weekend, and he is a quality player. We don’t have many guys of that standing, he’ll be sorely missed,” Jones admitted.

Jones has become accustomed to having to roll with the punches when it comes to availability, which helps explain why he named an enlarged 50-player squad for the Rugby Europe Championship.

“You are trying to choreograph 15 guys to do the same thing. You keep moving forward one step, and then you come back another and then you keep moving forward two steps, come back. You lose players all the time with injury, with other commitments, so you are constantly, constantly building. As it is an amateur game in the Netherlands you are going to lose people.

“It is important to grow the squad and not be naive to think your best XV is going to be available all the time, they’re not.”

As for the challenge of Spain, Jones says it is a benchmark match for his team, which is a mix of local and overseas-based players.

The Netherlands scrummaged well, kicked a lot and took their chances in last year’s competition and Jones wants to see them take the next step.

“We’re always looking to add to our game. We’ve got to get the basics right, that’s number one. We have got to stop losing by 50 points, which we have done. We have solidified and we are trying to move forward with a contemporary and it is working well at the moment.

“Playing Spain in Madrid is a tough game. Okay, we are improving and getting better but we are still a little bit behind teams like Spain and Georgia and have a bit of catching up to do.

“It takes time, it takes a good programme, it takes good organising for us to put everything together to keep growing. We are growing and we are getting better, and we’ll find out how much on Sunday.”