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'Well, I am hoping 20-plus. I want to see a record' - Eddie Jones sets the bar high for the number of England players on the Lions tour
Eddie Jones hopes England will emerge from one of the most demanding seasons in the game’s history by supplying a record number of players to next year’s Lions tour.
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With the Gallagher Premiership resuming earlier this month because of the five-month interruption caused by Covid-19, any personnel facing South Africa next summer will have endured a year of continuous rugby.
But Jones confronts the workload by outlining his determination to supply the bulk of Warren Gatland’s squad knowing it means England will have excelled.
Sir Clive Woodward’s bloated Lions touring party of 2005 saw 20 Red Rose stars embark for New Zealand – a record number supplied by one country in the professional era.
“The circumstances dictate that it’s a difficult season, we all acknowledge that,” said Jones, speaking on behalf of Umbro, the new Official Technical Kit Partner to England Rugby.
“But I think the planning between the clubs and us will result in our players being in as good a condition as they can be.
“And then, how many will go on the Lions tour? Well I am hoping 20-plus. I want to see a record. I think 100 per cent that’s possible.
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“I want our side to be by far the dominant force in the Lions. And that will be a consequence of them playing well for England.”
The path to South Africa begins on October 31 when England conclude their 2020 Six Nations with a re-arranged fixture against Italy and the trip to Rome is then followed by the autumn’s Eight Nations Tournament.
For the first time, Jones’ approach to selection could be significantly shaped by a statistical approach that he believes could be illuminating
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEgOavYhWVU/
“One of our sponsors is Red Bull and we’ve managed to speak to a number of people from them. They have obviously set-up quite an efficient football factory at the moment,” he said.
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“They have done really well and they’ve been quite innovative in how they recruit players based on the information they collect. So we are going down that track.
“One of the things that is important in that area is obviously being able to finance the research, so we are dealing with that at the moment.
“There are three sources of data for selection. There are live games, there is the video of games and then the metrics around performance.
“Metrics are one of the things that are missing and certainly football is way ahead of us in this area, which is one of the reasons we’ve spent some time looking at football.
“Take Mako Vunipola, who is probably one of the best looseheads in the world. He carries the ball 15 times a game.
“His longest carry is probably three seconds. So he has got the ball in his hand for 45 seconds. So for 79 minutes and 15 seconds he ‘s working off the ball – and we don’t really have any metrics to measure the effectiveness of his movement off the ball.
“It is quite a big project and it is something we are looking at the moment, investigating, and we will keep investigating.”
Eddie Jones is an Umbro ambassador. Umbro will be launching its new England Rugby kit on the 7th September. For more information visit: www.umbro.co.uk/rugby
Comments on RugbyPass
No surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
3 Go to comments