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Eddie Jones to cull 30 per cent of England squad by 2023

Young players like George Martin couild benefit from a heavy England cull /Getty via PA

Eddie Jones has been criticised for not blooding new talent in the Six Nations championship and his stance looks even more confusing after the England head coach revealed that only “70 per cent” of the current squad can expect to make the squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

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Players such as Ollie Lawrence, Harry Randall – now injured – and Paolo Odogwu have been largely ignored as England have stuttered through the Championship, losing to Scotland and Wales and major changes are not expected for the game with France on Saturday. However, the squad will now go into the match knowing that many of them could be dumped shortly.

Jones said: “It is always hard to know. We are definitely going through a transition period now and had a fairly settled team from 2019 to now and like most teams when you have had a settled period there needs to be a little bit of a revision of your members and to freshen it up and we are going through that at the moment.

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Dan Lydiate talks to The Offload after his devastating injury in Rd.1

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Dan Lydiate talks to The Offload after his devastating injury in Rd.1

“I would say anywhere up to 70 per cent of this squad will go through to the World Cup but it will be dependent on their desire, form, fitness and so we take all those things into consideration and make the final decision.”

Jones has addressed the continuing problem of giving away too many penalties which was seen in the los to Wales including Maro Itoje’s repeated errors. England have given away an average of 13.6 penalties per game with the collapse at the Principality Stadium saw Itoje alone conceded five. In the 40-24 defeat. He said: “No one goes out there and tries to give away penalties. Everyone is working hard but sometimes players just over-exert in certain areas. Those players we’ll have a quiet chat to and they’ve been reflecting on it. I’ve had at least three or four players ring me during the week to talk about how they need to tend to their errors. That’s the great honesty of this team. We’ll keep working on that.

Jones said he may look again at Sam Underhill who is now fit but is not going to be in the squad of 28 for the French game and does not know how the opposition will react to a long break after the game with Scotland was postponed due to positive Covid tests. He added: “We have seen team play really well after a break and also not so well. We are more concerned about ourselves rather than what France are going to bring. We know they will be well organised and physical in the forwards. The good attributes they will bring won’t change and we have to find the best of ourselves. Whatever team turns up at Twickenham will be tough.”

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TI 2 hours ago
All Blacks player ratings vs Italy | Autumn Nations Series

Rieko took literally years to turn from a defensive liability at 13 into a guy, who’s defensively sound as it befits the position. And it all came at the cost of him being much less of an offensive threat, than what he used to be. Proctor is a natural 13, he handles, passes, and kicks way better than Rieko ever will, he just isn’t as fast.


It’s unfair to judge Tupaea on the handful of games he’s had in 2022 before he got nearly crippled by a Wallaby lock. What could Tupaea/Proctor pairing be, if they got the same amount of chances as Jordie/Rieko?


Because no matter how you spin it, playing a player outside of his natural position is a poor asset management. No matter how talented he is, he still competes against players who had years and years of practice at the position. And if said guy is so talented that he actually CAN compete against specialists, imagine how much better still he could have been, if he had all those years to iron the toothing issues at the position. It just drives me mad.


Two things I hate in rugby union beyond description: aping after league, and playing players outside of their natural position. Especially considering, that they all admit they hate it, when they’re allowed to speak freely. Owen Farrell spent 80% of his international career at 12, saying every time when asked, that he is a 10 and prefers to play at 10. Those players are literally held at a gunpoint: play out of position, or no national jersey for you.

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