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Video - 'We've lost 320 caps so it's definitely a difficult situation' - Jones

By Nick Heath

Having named his 36-man squad for England’s November internationals, Eddie Jones told RugbyPass that the current injury crisis has not made things easy for him.

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Jones told RugbyPass, “It’s definitely a difficult situation but like every selection there are good players out there. We’ve tried to find the best players who can replace some of the established guys and I think we’ve done that.”

When asked about the trickiest areas of selection, Jones commented, “Loosehead was always going to be difficult when we lost Mako and we lost Genge the previous year. Obviously Joe Marler’s retirement has left a significant hole in that area but we’ve got two good replacements in Ben Moon and Alex Hepburn. Number eight, with Billy (Vunipola) and Nathan (Hughes) unavailable, again left a hole, fortunately Ben Morgan has come back to some good form for Gloucester and Zach Mercer we’ve been monitoring and mentoring for a couple of years now.”

Gloucester man Morgan last featured for England in 2015, so with news only coming out on Monday of Billy Vunipola’s injury, Jones had likely been tipped to keep an eye on Morgan in the Champions Cup on Sunday, saying “certainly he impressed against Castres.”

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In the backs, while Danny Cipriani’s continued omission has made plenty of headlines, the inclusion of Ben Te’o and Manu Tuilagi, alongside the likes of Henry Slade and Alex Lozowski, suggests that England could look to play with a more traditional midfield pairing with Farrell starting at 10 instead of at 12.

Jones said, “Both options are viable for us. I’m happy to have either style, I think you need to have adaptable styles. I don’t think you say ‘this is your style and this is how you play’, you need to have different version of that. George and Owen at 10 and 12 or Owen at 10 gives us those different varieties.”

The fitness and form of Leicester’s Manu Tuilagi has warmed the hearts of even the hardest rugby fans with England’s head coach pleased to see a key man returning. Jones said, “I’ve been impressed at how he’s come along this season. He looks fitter, he’s getting some more leg drive, getting a bit of footwork back, his work off the ball is improving.
It’ll be nice to have him in camp.”

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Following five consecutive defeats for England in 2018, Jones has previously suggested that his team’s progress may require some going backwards to go forwards. So how do England go forwards again in November?

Jones responded, “I don’t think we’ve been going backwards. I think we made substantial steps forward in South Africa and we’ll keep doing that in November. We just want to keep getting better at playing our game which is being adaptable, which is being tough, which is being brutal up front and then being able to find a way to score points.”

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Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 12 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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