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Virus fears impact first day of England camp as Jones potentially 3 players short

By Liam Heagney
England head coach Eddie Jones. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones has revealed that his three-day England camp hasn’t got off to the best of starts this Tuesday, the Australian admitting that three of the players chosen to be involved in the 28-man squad may have to miss out due to concerns over coronavirus. 

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England are due to begin their autumn programme with the October 25 exhibition game against the Barbarians at Twickenham before heading to Rome to play Italy six days later in their delayed 2020 Guinness Six Nations match.  

Preparations for those matches started with Jones announcing a training squad on Monday that consisted of players whose clubs are not involved in the Premiership semi-final race. However, not all 28 might be available for the camp at the Lensbury in London due to health precautions.

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“All I try to do is select the players that are available so that is all I am worried about,” he said at an early Tuesday morning media session before getting down to work. “We’re looking at three players today whether they will be available to be selected, we’ll find out this morning and then we’ll just wait and see.”:

Jones refused to name the three England players he has concerns over but he accepted the situation was something he will have to get used to in the weeks and months ahead as Test rugby attempts to get its show back on the road seven months after England’s last outing, the March win over Wales in the Six Nations.

“Look I think this is going to be the way it is at the moment. I just saw in the football England had three players unavailable this morning, they can’t go into Gareth Southgate’s camp. They are having a camp at Pennyhill so they have three spare bedrooms there. 

“It’s a fact of life at the moment, that’s what we have to deal with. We can’t get too worried about it, we’re not too obsessed about it. We’ll just take the players that are available, and work with those players.

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“You have just got to ride with whatever happens at the moment. It’s a matter of adapting and there is going to be more changes and we anticipate that so we have just got to ride with it, work out what we can do, work out what we can’t do and take it on board. 

“Traditionally this camp (which is usually in early June around Premiership final time) has always been about that. You get the teams that aren’t in the semi-finals, a smattering of young guys. It’s a great opportunity for them to raise their hand and see how far they can go with selection.”    

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Bull Shark 1 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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