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'He's not far off': What Sanderson took from his Jones dinner date

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Sale boss Alex Sanderson has given an insight into the conversations that took place in Manchester when England boss Eddie Jones visited the Gallagher Premiership’s training ground in Manchester at the start of this week. Ahead of Tuesday’s Test squad announcement which saw Manu Tuilagi, Tom Curry and Bevan Rodd all included in the training camp that begins in London on Sunday, the doors at were flung open to Jones and Jon Clarke, the head of S&C, to catch up with the players

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Jones then had a two-and-a-half-hour dinner with Sanderson, whom he worked with long ago at Saracens when the ex-England back-rower took his first steps in coaching after his playing career was cut short. 

A 20-year age gap exists between the pair, the 62-year-old Jones possessing quite a considerable CV in head coaching compared to the 42-year-old Sanderson who is just 16 months into his first director of rugby position after more than a decade as a Saracens assistant. 

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Jones has in recent weeks visited multiple Premiership training grounds. For instance, London Irish explained last Friday that the England coach had come in to take a close up look at Henry Arundell, the teen sensation who has recently been on fire, while Gloucester boss George Skivington mentioned on Tuesday that he was looking forward to meeting Jones later this week to find out exactly why his club didn’t get a single player named in the 36-strong squad.  

But how did the conversion unfold at Sale on Monday – does Jones just talk rugby non-stop or are there other aspects to his chats with directors of rugby such as Sanderson? “Pretty much all rugby,” said the Manchester club boss when asked by RugbyPass to shed light on what goes on at these types of meet-ups. “I’m very lucky enough to have a decent relationship with him. 

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“Look, it was decent back then (at Saracens when Jones was boss) but a very different relationship. I was an assistant to a very experienced coach back then and everyone knows that it is a hard environment that tests and stretches you. But we now meet up not as peers – he is vastly more experienced – but the conversation is one of too and fro. He brings his notepad out, he is keen to know what we are getting on with. 

“We discuss the thing we have at the moment which is building a team together, both of us have got that challenge so we discussed the merits of the science behind that as well as the art of team cohesion and what it gives you on the field. 

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“We have been doing some work with a neuroscientist and he was interested to hear where that was going. Eddie is perhaps one of the best people to have a very good understanding of where the game is going. He is constantly projecting through some analysis and his own interpretation of watching games, fashions and styles of play which are going to come to the fore. 

“This time last year he came up and he was hot on attacking kicks. He said: ‘I think attacking kicks are going to be prevalent this season”, and he’s not far off. A lot of the quarter-finals and semi-finals this last couple of weekends were won and lost around smarts in the kicking game. 

Racing kicked the most in the quarters of all the teams yet you wouldn’t say they are a team that kicks a lot but it was the nature of what they did, the style of the kicks which broke up the game. Leinster were second to that and they also had an emphatic win, so he wasn’t far off then and his projections or understanding of where the game might go moving forward were probably on point as well. 

“So we spoke a bit about that which was exciting. What else? It was quite a long night talking to be fair. He has good advice for someone like myself who has nowhere near scratched the surface of what it is to be a good DoR,” continued the still-new Sale boss about his latest evening with Jones.  

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“He has had a lot of different environments and there are certain challenges that I faced this year in and around discipline and how you can create an environment, an off-field environment, that will transfer to good discipline on the field so that was a big talking point in and around standards.

“In layman’s terms how you can lead by example from his standards, the things you walk past are the things you are willing to accept. That was the expression we talked about, so how he had coached those standards in the past and made the lads accountable to him. So all stuff rugby, two-and-a-half hours of rugby tooing and froing but mainly me trying to absorb some of his vast knowledge.”

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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