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Real value of England training camp lies behind the headlines
England head coach Eddie Jones announced his preseason training squad for the 2018/19 season on Thursday morning, with the group of 44 players set to meet up on Saturday for a three-day training camp.
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?SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT
Eddie Jones has named a 44-man training squad ahead of the new season.
Find out more: ?? https://t.co/EraoaYbJJF pic.twitter.com/jiomjbbgPi
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) August 2, 2018
The group is headlined by two eye-catching additions in the form of Chris Ashton and Michael Rhodes, with Ashton returning to English rugby this summer and South African-born Rhodes completing his three-year residency period just last month.
A number of England regulars over the last few years who didn’t tour South Africa with the squad in June have missed out on selection for the camp, such as Danny Care and Dan Cole, whilst others have been left with their clubs to focus on preseason and preparations for the Gallagher Premiership and/or returns to fitness following injuries.
The camp will give Jones an opportunity to reconnect with Ashton and explain to him what it is he needs to do at Sale this season to warrant selection in the autumn and in the Six Nations, as it will for Rhodes, who is experiencing this environment for the first time in his professional career.
That opportunity to get a look at players and be able to communicate in person the areas they need to improve is one of the real values of these preseason training camps and for no group of players is that more valuable than the fresh faces in the squad.
Nathan Earle and Joe Cokanasiga have been in these camps before, but following moves to Harlequins and Bath respectively, both players will be keen to kick on at club level and push for international selection, especially with a Rugby World Cup now just over a year away. At Quins, Earle will come under the tutelage of ones of Jones’ former lieutenants in Paul Gustard and should be in line for more playing time than he saw at Saracens, whilst Cokanasiga will be hopeful that a Bath side battling in the top half of the Premiership will be more conducive to his England hopes than a relegation battle with London Irish was.
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Joe Marchant and Jack Singleton also fall into this group, with the former looking to make the most of Jonathan Joseph’s omission due to injury and the latter keen to push his way up the hooker hierarchy, with Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie having failed to usurp England captain Dylan Hartley over the past three seasons.
The newer faces to the group also include three members of England’s side at the World Rugby U20 Championship in France back in June, in the forms of Gabriel Ibitoye, Jordan Olowofela and Joel Kpoku.
Ibitoye, who has been nominated for the World Rugby Junior Player of the Year award for the last two years, gives England some versatility in his ability to play on both wings and at outside centre. He was called up as an apprentice back in February and Jones thinks highly of the youngster, enough so to have him competing with club teammates Earle and Marchant, both of whom would be preseason favourites to start ahead of Ibitoye for Harlequins in the season opener.
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If Ibitoye’s selection has been because of consistent excellence for the U20s over the last two seasons, then Olowofela’s is because of a single standout U20 championship back in June, having not featured for the side in 2017, his first year of eligibility. He flashed his footwork, speed and counter-attacking ability at the tournament, on his way to scoring a number of dazzling tries, something which also warranted Junior Player of the Year award nomination.
Finally, Kpoku follows in the footsteps of Nick Isiekwe, not only as lock of prodigious talent coming out of the Saracens academy, but also as a player still eligible for the U20s featuring in senior England training camps. Ibitoye and Olowofela may have stood out with their tries, breaks and offloads at the U20 Championship, but you wouldn’t go far wrong with Kpoku if you were looking for England’s most consistent player at the competition. He’s mobile, though perhaps lacking the top gear that Isiekwe and Maro Itoje before him both had, but makes up for that with a strong carrying game and the natural size to add ballast in the scrum.
For these three, this preseason training camp is not only a valuable learning tool and opportunity to hone their game under the man they need to impress to win a senior cap, it is also a big confidence boost for a trio of players wanting to nail down regular starting spots in the Premiership.
There are veterans who have performed in the Premiership for 10 years who these three have been selected ahead of and to know Jones has that kind of faith in them will only help them moving forward.
Going into the final season before a Rugby World Cup should be about Jones fine-tuning his group, having identified the key contributors over the last few years, but there is always room for a bolter or two, making this preseason camp arguably more valuable than last two editions in 2016 and 2017.
Is Cokanasiga the man to add a different dimension to England’s attack? Could Ibitoye be the defensive solution at 13? Or can Singleton push on and slipstream behind George and Cowan-Dickie to the starting hooker spot?
Jones will get his first look in 2018/19 at these players this coming weekend and for many of them, it won’t be a case of simply going through the preseason motions.
Comments on RugbyPass
He seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
3 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
15 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
15 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
3 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
15 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
15 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to comments