The Eddie Jones substitution decision that left many England fans scratching their heads

It was a very impressive win for England against France on Sunday at Twickenham, a game that was over before half time in truth.

At 30-8 at the break, and with two quick tries shortly after, England had an unassailable 44-8 lead going into the final quarter of the match. Of course, it was a performance that would have pleased Eddie Jones, the players and the fans alike. However, there was something that the fans questioned on Twitter, and that was Jones’ reluctance to bring Dan Robson on for his debut.

The Wasps scrum-half has been knocking on the door of the England squad for a number of years now and has been consistently overlooked. However, he made it onto the bench against Ireland last week, but did not get on. With Ireland being such a formidable opponent and Ben Youngs playing so well, it is understandable that the Australian would not want to throw a debutante on at the Aviva Stadium.

However, with the game effectively done and dusted against a forlorn French team, Jones waited until the 70th minute before he introduced Robson to the game, almost 10 minutes after his penultimate substitution.

This confused many fans, as this would have been the perfect game to introduce Robson earlier on. Furthermore, the match ended on a bit of a whimper, as there was not a score in the final 20 minutes. Jones was never averse to introducing one of his arch ‘finishers’ in the past in Danny Care, but bizarrely seemed reluctant to bring Robson on, who could have injected some energy back into the game.

It’s understandable if Jones wanted to try out a new half-back combination when George Ford came on at the hour mark, but the Youngs-Ford combination does need to prove anything. That is a tried and tested partnership for both club and country, and it would have made much more sense to give Robson a chance to line up alongside Farrell or Ford.

In a World Cup year, the 26-year-old Robson looks to be moving ahead of competitors Care and Richard Wigglesworth, but Jones would surely want to give him as much exposure to international rugby as possible before the showcase in Japan in September. France was the perfect platform to do so, and that is why the fans are slightly confused.
This is what the fans had to say:

https://twitter.com/chrispowell25/status/1094634885183082497
https://twitter.com/rossparryuk/status/1094637231631933441
https://twitter.com/Daniflowers20/status/1094635783015804929
https://twitter.com/dbberkeley/status/1094634251964870656
https://twitter.com/BenEustice1/status/1094630915354046464
https://twitter.com/Runningflyhalf/status/1094635996912803841
https://twitter.com/a_crafty_one/status/1094634010347794434

Put on Dan Robson #ENGvFRA

— Aaron Bello (@AaronBello1234) February 10, 2019