England and Eddie Jones Are Entering The Difficult Second Year

After 12 months of marital bliss, Lee Calvert predicts the cracks may soon begin to show for Eddie Jones and his unbeaten England side.

Eddie Jones and England now enter that difficult second year of their relationship. Sure, the first 12 months are great; it’s all going out on dates to win a series in Australia, or staying in to beat South Africa and everyone in Europe.  Oh and Australia again. You get in bed together and everything comes up Grand Slams and every joke, like selecting Teimana Harrison only to replace him after twenty minutes, is so funny and charming and, oh aren’t we just so good together. You hang up first.  No, you hang up, silly!

Now it’s time for year two, when you start to notice the stuff that winds you up.  Why do you flick the channels on the TV all the time? Why do you never pick two proper scoring wingers? Do you have to talk through your nose like that? You’re not as good as you think you are, you know , Ireland are a real team and they score proper tries. It’s not my fault we’ve not played New Zealand! Yeah, well, you never do take criticism well, and let’s see how you do with injuries, and pick your clothes up will you! Oh, shut up!  No, you shut up!

The injuries must be Eddie Jones’ biggest worry. Both Vunipolas are unavailable: Mako so much a part of the reconstructed scrum, Billy the man responsible for more carrying metres than the rest of the pack put together and most of the back as well. Also, Chris Robshaw, the former captain and anchor at six won’t be there with his industry and all-round contribution.

Joe Marler will come into the front row, the monstrous Nathan Hughes with continue at eight and the incomparable youngster Maro Itoje will likely move to 6, with one of either Joe Launchbury or Courtney Lawes asked to partner George Kruis in the boilerhouse, while Tom Wood will continue to operate at seven in the continued absence of James Haskell. On the face of it, these are not poor replacement by anyone’s definition,  but it does upset a settled unit and the likely props off the bench are raw.  This will be a challenge in the Dublin cauldron on the final weekend.

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The backs are less affected, with only Anthony Watson of the 2016 invincibles out for probably the whole tournament. Jack Nowell of Exeter, a man on a run of form so hot he could be used as a welding torch will come in. The form of Ben Youngs coming from an abysmal season at Leicester is troubling, but his England form has always been something of a pleasant surprise under Jones and England fans will be hoping that continues.

Despite their amazing achievement under Jones so far, England remain a side that give you the feeling they are still in the phase of their game development which is more moving away from conceding tries rather than moving towards scoring them via a pattern. In last year’s Six Nations this wasn’t an issue as form of opposition was of less concern. This time out Jones should be very concerned about Ireland, worried about the unknown quantity of a new French setup after a year under Guy Noves in the opening weekend, and a little troubled about having to go to Cardiff.

Defending well, hoping for a mistake and relying on Owen Farrell’s kicking probably won’t be enough this year, and their forwards surely won’t be as dominant.

ENGLAND SQUAD

Forwards

Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby), Jack Clifford (Harlequins), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers), Jamie George (Saracens), Teimana Harrison (Northampton Saints), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Wasps), Nathan Hughes (Wasps), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Matt Mullan (Wasps), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Tommy Taylor (Wasps), Mike Williams (Leicester Tigers), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints).

Backs

Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Alex Lozowski (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Marland Yarde (Harlequins), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).