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Why 'little bit of anger' from Jamie George delighted Eddie Jones
Eddie Jones has taken great delight from the angry reaction in recent weeks of Jamie George, the originally axed 31-year-old hooker who has fought his way back into England contention and is now one of the two hookers in the squad of 28 ahead of team selection for Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series opener versus Tonga.
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A Lions tourist for their July trip to South Africa, George was omitted from the England squads announced on September 21 and October 18 despite improved club form with Saracens following their return to the Premiership following a season in the Championship.
In the end, an injury to Luke Cowan-Dickie restored George to the England mix and he is now in a position to add to his haul of 59 England caps as the only two hookers remaining in the squad are the Saracens front-rower and Newcastle’s Jamie Blamire, the 23-year-old Test rookie who earned his first two caps in the summer series versus the USA and Canada. The uncapped Nic Dolly was released back to Leicester on Tuesday evening.
The overall response of George after his axing has pleased England boss Jones who had wanted a reaction. “He has responded well,” enthused Jones. “A player who has been dropped, particularly an established player, you have got two choices: one you can sulk and blame everything around you or you can get on with it and prove that the person who didn’t select you in the first place is wrong and then put in even stronger performances.
“I have been really delighted by Jamie’s attitude. He has come in and has worked hard, been helping the two young hookers Jamie (Blamire) and Nic Dolly and really added to the squad and for a player like him, what he has gone through is fairly normal.
TEAM NEWS: Sam Simmonds' wait for a first England cap since 2018 continues as he is one of 7?? players cut from the squad#AutumnNationsSeries #England #ENGvTON
https://t.co/sGDDxMlzmV— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 2, 2021
“If you look at when he first came into Saracens he was second choice behind (Schalk) Brits. He had to fight hard, got second choice, career went up, came into England, Dylan (Hartley) was ahead of him, had to fight hard to get the opportunity and then his career went up again and he has probably plateaued a little bit as was seen by the Lions tour.
“Now he has got the opportunity to go up again and he wants to go up. He doesn’t want to plateau, he doesn’t want to finish his career on not being involved in the Lions tour and he wants to be selected and be a member of this new England side going forward.”
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Asked about the rapport he has with the player following the initial decision to exclude him, Jones added: “Firstly I gave him the reason why he wasn’t included and when you tell that to players they never really hear you the first time, so there were some follow-up conversations.
“He responded well for his club. I really enjoyed the way he played with a little bit of anger for his club and you can see it means a lot to him. That is the sort of response we want because as a team, the longer you are together and you have had some success the harder you have to work. Sometimes you just forget how hard you have to work to be good and he wants to be good and I am sure he is going to get there.”
5?? players were listed on the latest England injury list that Eddie Jones confirmed at Tuesday's media briefing, with Marcus Smith the headline name mentioned#AutumnNationsSeries #England #ENGvTON
https://t.co/0DszaYwtuf— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 2, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Pick 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.
15 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?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
15 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
15 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo 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!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
15 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
14 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.
15 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.
15 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
15 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 comments