England’s first game under new coach Eddie Jones is now only days away. How will they go? How might they change their approach? And what defines Eddie as a coach?
The way I see it is that Eddie has the pedigree and charisma to help England put last year’s premature RWC departure behind them and ultimately turn things around. But it won’t happen overnight.
While English rugby is not on its knees, it is nowhere near where the RFU want it to be. They have the most money of any Rugby Union on the planet and the most players to pick from. So they should be a rugby powerhouse and changes need to be made to realise that potential.
With Eddie, they have ‘gone for the doctor’ and are going to listen to what he says for at least the first 12 months. Thereafter, it will all depend on how many wins he gets on the board. If he delivers good results (say a 66% win-loss ratio), he will get to leverage the ‘feel-good’ factor and push the envelope further in year two. That would be when you’d think the big tactical and selection moves will be made.
In the meantime, England fans will need to be patient, as I can’t see the revival being quick enough to take out this year’s 6 Nations. Wales and Ireland have won more titles recently than anyone else and played quite well in the RWC. So, for mine, they would have to be favourites again this year, with England a rung or two behind them.
That said, England do have a fortuitous draw. They face Ireland and Wales at home and Scotland, France (also in a rebuilding phase under a new coach) and Italy away. So a decent win-loss ratio over the tournament may be as much to do with the draw than any Eddie driven change in form.
As for this weekend, I can’t imagine Eddie would be resting easily knowing that his first match is against fierce rivals Scotland at Murrayfield, where plans for an English ambush will have been made.
While a first up loss to Scotland would not be a total disaster for England and Eddie, I’m anticipating a win in Scotland and then Italy. And this will help build some momentum before facing more fancied rivals at home mid-way through the tournament.
How might England now play?
I would be surprised to see massive changes in England’s playing style in the first game. But there are three areas of their game that I think will emerge and evolve over time.
Attack
Eddie will run the attack and want the team to play a high tempo running game so they can ultimately compete with their more fancied southern hemisphere rivals. But don’t expect England to run the ball from everywhere all the time. Eddie’s game plan will typically comprise four 20 minute periods, as follows:
1 – 20mins – play in opposition’s half with aim of picking up easy penalties
21 – 40mins – run the ball and take on the defence
At half-time, base second half tactics on penalty, missed tackle and turnover stats
41 – 60mins – if going well, attack hard and target any opposition defensive declines
61 – 80 mins – introduce impact players, including big ball carriers like Billy Vunipola, of which he has plenty in the team.
Defence
While England’s line speed has always been quite good, it will become very fast under the guidance of Paul Gustard. You’ll even think they are offside, but they won’t be. I coached Paul at London Irish and I used him as a defence assistant coach whilst he was playing. He’s very enthusiastic and once brought a wolf into the Sarries’ change room when selling the ‘Wolf Pack Defence’ to his players.
Line-out
With Steve Borthwick now coaching the line-out, England will secure more possession and avoid implosions like in the RWC pool match against Wales. He will also be a great mentor for the young locks coming through. I coached Steve at Bath and he was England captain when I was coaching for Martin Johnson. He is a man of great integrity and a line-out genius.
My thoughts on the squad
One of the key challenges Eddie faces over the coming weeks is that the squad for the 6 Nations is not ‘his’ squad. Restrictions are placed on how many players he can drop and bring into the group and it’s going to take him 18 months to get his own side together. While I expect he will blood lots of new players over time like he did with the Wallabies, he’s not going to rush in a bunch of rookies and risk a string of losses early in his tenure. Here are my key thoughts on his first squad as England’s coach.
Biggest call
Dylan Hartley has taken over as captain from Chris Robshaw. Dylan is a tough, lead-by-example player that should help lift the team more than his nice-guy predecessor. That said, he has done some silly things on the field and spent quite a bit of time suspended.
Most notable squad drop out
Tom Youngs, who played for England in the recent RWC, has not been selected for the 6 Nations. While he is an unbelievably dynamic hooker Eddie, a hooker himself in his playing days, would have been concerned that he can’t throw into line-outs.
Most notable omission
Danny Cipriani continues to be overlooked. But he has been playing some good footy and may get a chance down the track when Eddie gets the opportunity to pick form over personality.
Player to watch
Maro Itoje was not picked for the opening match against Scotland, but he is a special talent and his first cap is a matter of when, not if.
Eddie’s key strengths
There are two key things that for mine make Eddie a terrific candidate for leading an English revival. First of all, he has pedigree galore. He took the Wallabies to a RWC final in 2003. He was heavily involved with South Africa’s winning campaign in 2007. And he engineered arguably the biggest RWC upset when Japan knocked off South Africa late last year.
The other key attribute is his big personality. He is a ‘charisma coach’ and has the presence to reign in the 20 – 30% of players you tend to find in any team that can be a bit of a handful. By doing this he can build tremendous unity in a team and a single purpose, much like Michael Cheika recently did with the Wallabies.
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In fact, Eddie and Cheika have quite a lot in common, having both played at the Randwick club, where attacking rugby and hard work is part of their DNA.
The only difference is that Eddie is smaller, older and probably a bit nastier.
I had the pleasure of playing Eddie when he was hooker at Randwick and Phil Kearns was his understudy. I recall Eddie was a good sledger and usually in the middle of all the scuffles.
So expect him to spend less time with a clipboard in hand and more time in the trenches. That’s exactly what England need right now if they are going to challenge Ireland and Wales during the 6 Nations tournament, let alone the Southern Hemisphere teams later in the year.
