Eddie Jones’ World Cup rugby reshuffle

Whether one likes it or not, the Rugby World Cup, to be played in France in two years, is already uppermost in national coaches’ minds. I don’t care for this because of the likelihood that it will overshadow the Six Nations tournament, and I find the idea of using the Six Nations as a trial for the World Cup deplorable. 

The Six Nations is a great tournament in its own right, rich in history, and coaches should, I think, respect this. So I find the idea that you should try out a player in the Six Nations as a team-building exercise repugnant. I would add that it shows little respect either for the fans who buy tickets – crazily expensive ones – for Twickenham and the other national stadiums.

England’s coach Eddie Jones has been frank about it. His squad for the autumn internationals has been selected with Paris 2023 in mind. Senior players with many caps – the Vunipola brothers, Jamie George and George Ford – have been discarded – like the old days of ocean travel when trunks were labelled “Not Wanted on the Voyage”. Of course, Jones prudently says the door remains open to them.

The truth is that he had his back to the wall. There have been fewer England fans ready to say, “in Eddie we trust”. England was miserable last season, desperately boring in the improvised Autumn competition when they required a last-minute try to beat what was at most France’s second XV. 

Then, in the Six Nations, they lost to Scotland, Wales and Ireland, the first season in which they had done that since well before any of the present England team was born and before some of their fathers were likely born too. 

They did beat Italy fairly comfortably, but then again, everyone else beat Italy too. The Italians never seem to believe they can win against England anyway. 

The only bright spot for England was a second-half rally and a late try, which enabled them to beat France at Twickenham, and even the award of that try was questionable.

I relate this dismal story, not as an expression of Scottish schadenfreude – well, not entirely – but rather to suggest that if Jones had said “same again” and rolled out the usual suspects, a groan would have resounded around the shires, and social media would have been rich in scarcely printable abuse. So he has changed tack, implying (I think) that it is all a move in his long-pondered strategy.

It hasn’t satisfied all his critics. Even though Stuart Barnes of The Times says he has done the right thing now, he remarks that it has come a year late. He may well be right, as may those who shake their heads and say that, when it comes to the World Cup, there’s no substitute for experience.

Unless Mr Jones really intends to keep Ben Youngs (who has survived the cull) in the number 9 jersey scrum-half, a scrum-half pairing of the Harlequins’ acclaimed youthful genius Marcus Smith and either Bristol’s Harry Randall (a delightful player) or Sale Sharks’ Raffi Quirke, will have no great number of caps between them when it comes to RWC time.

Others, however, think Eddie Jones hasn’t gone far enough. Why they ask, has Owen Farrell survived the cull? Why is he still captain? He was poor last season and lacklustre for the Lions in South Africa. Actually, I feel sorry for Farrell; he seems to have gone quickly from being English supporters’ Golden Boy to their Whipping Boy. He was capped for England before he was twenty. 

It may be that, like many players in every sport, he has reached his peak earlier than others and fallen away sooner. Scotland and Gloucester’s Chris Harris, who played outside him for the Lions, is just the opposite, a late developer who didn’t look international class when he was first picked for Scotland, but now wins golden opinions. It’s the same in every sport. Some flourish young and wither early, some ripen late.

One charge brought against Farrell as captain is his apparent inability to change the way his team plays when things are going wrong. This is something easier said than done. England failed to change their tactics in the last RWC final against South Africa and lost. A few days earlier New Zealand failed to change the way they were playing against Farrell’s England and lost. You win some, you lose some.

That semi-final against the All Blacks was not only the finest performance of Farrell’s England tea; it was the finest England performance since I don’t know when. They played with a brilliance that the Clive Woodward and Martin Johnson World Cup-winning team of 2003 never came close to.

Time may prove Mr Jones right, both in the changes he has made and the big change he hasn’t. It’s going to make for interesting watching.