The five biggest snubs from Eddie Jones' 31-man England World Cup squad
All the speculating of the last few years is now over, as Eddie Jones has named his England squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup (RWC) in Japan.
Opting to go early with the announcement rather than waiting until the end of the warm-up games, Jones has brought forward all critiques of the squad to mid-August rather than risking them having a detrimental effect in September.
A lot of the places in the squad were semi-known before Monday’s announcement, although a strong showing from many of England’s second and third string players against Wales on Sunday, such as Lewis Ludlam and Charlie Ewels, certainly raised some fresh questions regarding selection.
Regardless, Jones is a coach who knows his own mind and, wherever he has been, he has built squads to his specifications, something which can leave form players or players whose faces don’t quite fit sitting on the outside.
With that in mind, we take a look at five of the biggest snubs from Jones’ 31-man World Cup squad, explaining why it hasn’t quite happened for those players this time around.
Eddie Jones has named his 31-man England squad for the Rugby World Cuphttps://t.co/K41hq4OZmT
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 12, 2019
The England scrum-half journey over the past four seasons has been an interesting to put it mildly. With Ben Youngs and Danny Care combining well and complementing one another for the first three seasons, it felt almost set in stone as a pairing for the England RWC squad.
However, Care fell out of favour this past season and the trio of Richard Wigglesworth, Dan Robson and Spencer were all drafted in at various times, although Youngs still took the lion’s share of minutes on the pitch. Heading into the World Cup warm-ups, it seemed Spencer had won that three-way duel for the job as Youngs’ deputy.
It was not to be, however, as Gloucester’s Willi Heinz came from the blindside and reinforced his claim with a decent debut against Wales on Sunday. Spencer’s form had been excellent with Saracens and he seemed to provide both Youngs’ control of a game with the boot, as well as Care’s urgency at the ruck and around the fringes.
One thing going for Heinz, though, was his attacking style of play, which often sees him take two or three steps with the ball from the ruck before delaying, drawing defenders and then executing an incisive flat pass or blitz-beating cutback pass. In style, it is extremely reminiscent of the way Youngs himself plays.
Jones has now preferred Heinz as a like-for-like replacement for Youngs than the contrasting style of Spencer.
HARRY WILLIAMS
Even before the return of Joe Marler to international rugby, there was always going to be one prop sacrificed. Mako Vunipola and Kyle Sinckler were the certainties, Ellis Genge looked relatively safe and Dan Cole’s experience was a valuable factor in his favour, leaving it as a shootout between Williams and Ben Moon for the final spot.
With Marler back in the mix, that put pay to Moon’s hopes of being on the plane and it left Jones with a simple decision as to whether to take three looseheads or three tightheads. Thanks to the combination of Marler’s experience and Genge’s considerable impact in the loose, the Australian has opted to go with just the two tightheads, Sinckler and Cole.
Williams didn’t really do anything wrong in the last cycle, playing well for Exeter Chiefs and offering himself from the bench to help England see out games. He just ended up as the deputy to both Cole and Sinckler over that period. Whether it was Cole’s set-piece ability at first or the leap that Sinckler made around the British and Irish Lions tour, Williams just couldn’t quite get ahead of either prop.
At 27 years of age, don’t rule him out from featuring prominently in the next cycle as Cole is a potential post-RWC retirement. The Leicester man is set to turn 33 towards the end of next season.
BEN TE’O and MIKE BROWN
Getting into an altercation with a team-mate is never advisable, but it is even more costly when that altercation happens immediately prior to a World Cup as there is no time left to seek redemption. With that row having reportedly occurred between these two players during a team bonding session recently, their omissions are not too surprising.
Was the row over piggy backs? https://t.co/Tn6CX8pDZI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 10, 2019
Both could have added a lot to the England squad. However, with team chemistry and atmosphere of the utmost importance out in Japan, it seems Jones is taking no chances with his group of players.
The performances of Anthony Watson and Piers Francis against Wales didn’t help the omitted pair, with Watson excelling in the air and with his defensive duties, making him a solid candidate to fill in at full-back if required. Francis’ physical defence at 12 was another of the big takeaways from the game, with the Welsh midfield enjoying little success when running down his channel.
DANNY CIPRIANI
It would be remiss not to mention Cipriani, given that no player has seemed to capture the hearts and minds of England fans quite like the Gloucester fly-half.
However, the tour of South Africa last summer aside, there has been very little to suggest Cipriani would be part of the England RWC squad. As soon as Owen Farrell moved into his favoured fly-half spot and George Ford became his deputy rather than the starting 10, the writing was on the wall for Cipriani.
Factor in the ability of Henry Slade and Francis to cover the position in training if required and it always seemed a longshot that Jones would opt to take three fly-halves to Japan.
Cipriani’s Premiership form has been very good and because of his spot outside the squad, he has been a lightning rod for praise and highlights of his more impressive moments have abounded. Equally, Ford, as an incumbent in the squad, has been a lightning rod for criticism and his mistakes are pored over in a way that Cipriani’s, at least at club level, are not.
There was very little between the two players and Jones opted to go with Ford, the player he knows, trusts and has experience operating in England’s system. That decision is as unsurprising as fans’ entirely understandable lauding of Cipriani. The grass always looks greener on the other side.
WATCH: Jonathan Joseph tells RugbyPass about his Sunday at Twickenham and his World Cup selection hopes
Comments on RugbyPass
Big 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 …
29 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 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!😭😭😭 !!!
29 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
29 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.
29 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.
29 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 comments