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The England spot where Jones most wants new talent, and his message to Simmonds
Four years ago when England last toured at the same time as the Lions, Eddie Jones included a raft of uncapped players for the 2017 trip to Argentina and 29 months later, new caps Tom Curry and Sam Underhill were starting the 2019 World Cup final versus South Africa in Yokohama.
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England’s latest tour dynamics are now very different. Facing the Pumas away was a very different challenge than what is on the cards this July, home matches at Twickenham versus the USA and Canada while the Lions are away in South Africa.
All the same, it will provide opportunity and England boss Jones has outlined the area of his team where he is hoping to unearth some alternatives to the options he has previously used. “I have been travelling the country looking for them,” he said when asked about the likelihood of some unheralded players making the cut when he announces his summer series squad next weekend.
“We think we have found a few good players who maybe aren’t in the media spotlight as much as you guys would like because I know you are the guys who like to unearth the talent so maybe we have found a few, I’m not sure.
“In every position, we need strengthening. We are looking for the best talent, the right talent to come into the squad. Obviously centre has been a position where we need to bring some new talent through. It’s nice to see Manu (Tuilagi) back playing but we will need to assess his development and we want to see what we can unearth in the centres. The wingers is another position where there is an opportunity for some young guys to come through.”
Ahead of the June 10 announcement of the England summer series squad, Eddie Jones has defended his April stint coaching Beauden Barrett and co in the Far East…https://t.co/tznSUGS44n
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 2, 2021
One of rugby’s most intriguing stories in 2021 has been the continued stance by Jones to ignore the England selection credentials of Sam Simmonds, the try-scoring Exeter No8 whose record-breaking exploits have seen him secure Lions tour selection despite not being capped at Test level by his country since March 2018. Would Jones have picked him for England’s summer series if Warren Gatland had chosen him for the Lions?
“All I can say is that I am pleased he has made the Lions, really pleased for him and I hope he has a great tour and I hope he comes back as a better player. Then we are in a good position. I don’t deal with hypotheses… every time a player plays at a high level you are assessing them. We have been pleased with his development as a player and if he continues on the Lions he is going to put himself in a good position (for England).”
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Asked what his approach will be to selecting an England squad for a schedule that includes an A fixture versus Scotland A on the same late June weekend as the final of the Gallagher Premiership, Jones said: “The only thing we are concerned about is picking the best England squad and part of that is making sure we looking after players in the best way we can. Players have gone through a very difficult period, let’s not understate that.
“Our English boys have played back to back seasons, they have missed a whole pre-season so for those players who have missed out on the Lions and we feel for their careers and their future with the England rugby team, if they are better off having a pre-season then we will give them a pre-season.
“We would encourage them to have a pre-season. For those guys we think would benefit from playing a small bit of international rugby we will play them. We won’t be driven by the Lions agenda, we will be driven by our agenda.
“I had a meal and a beer with Warren well before the Lions selection, but that is his job, he has got to get on with it and we don’t really expect communication,” Jones continued. “We have just got to be respondent to what they need. They are the next tier from us now.
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“They dictate what we do so we have got to be those good boys who sit at the front of the class and make sure when we are asked to put up our hand we put up our hand and obey and answer nicely and we will.”
"We are seeing that come to the fore probably more in the southern hemisphere at this stage"
– Sounds like wounded England have their work cut-out playing catch up on the rest https://t.co/GPCGuCzPFD
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 2, 2021
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 …
26 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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.
26 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