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Jones defends snubbing Simmonds brothers despite double success

England head coach Eddie Jones. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones today defended his decision to ignore Sam Simmonds, the European player of the year, and brother Joe, who led Exeter Chiefs to the Heineken Champions Cup and Gallagher Premiership double, for the Six Nations squad preparing to face Italy in Rome on Sunday.

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A bonus point victory over Italy looks likely to earn England the title and Jones has refused to be swayed in his belief that he can rule Europe again without the Simmonds brothers.

The final day of the delayed Six Nations will see Ireland champions with a bonus point win over France, however, the various scenarios include England taking the title if they beat Italy with a bonus point and France beat Ireland, unless Fabien Galthie’s side earn a bonus-point win and secure a margin of victory two points greater than England’s. If England win with a bonus point and Ireland beat France without a bonus point, the title would come down to points difference.

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    With Courtney Lawes, Jack Nowell. Elliot Daly, George Ford, Joe Marler and Manu Tuilagi ruled out by injury and George Kruis now playing in Japan, Jones needed to bolster a squad denied a warm up game with the Barbarians on Sunday.

    However, the Simmonds brothers did not make the squad despite their key roles in winning the double. Jones said he had spoken to the brothers about their absence and added: “At the end of the day it is my judgement call with the coaches having done due diligence and I have done about 8,000 miles watching players live and the decision is this is the best 36 players and there are other players out there who will be massively disappointed.

    “It has been a difficult squad to pick and probably different to others because we have nine very good players unavailable and a congested club season which has provided selection challenges because of mis-matches in some of the games. At the end of the day I am happy with the squad and it has a nice balance and 25 per cent of the squad is uncapped.”

    Jones paid tribute to the form of Wasps flanker Jack Willis who had been a break down revelation this season. He addded: “Jack’s been someone we’ve had on the radar for a long time, since 2018. We selected him for the South Africa tour and unfortunately, he’s injured. We’ve been watching his progress and he’s a good, jumping number six who carries well and contests hard. He has a good work attitude about him, so he’s a really old fashioned number six, so we’re looking forward to him. Jacob is a young guy at 10 who attacks the line and has plenty of courage in the way he plays.
    “He’s a solid defender and is one of the reasons why Wasps did so well. We had him in camp earlier in this Six Nations and we were impressed by what he did, so we’re looking forward to working with him again.”

    Backs: J Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby), O Farrell (Saracens), G Furbank (Northampton Saints), W Heinz (Gloucester Rugby), J Joseph (Bath Rugby), O Lawrence (Worcester Warriors), M Malins (Bristol Bears), J Marchant (Harlequins), J May (Gloucester Rugby), D Robson (Wasps), H Slade (Exeter Chiefs), O Thorley (Gloucester Rugby), J Umaga (Wasps), A Watson (Bath Rugby), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers).

    Forwards: T Curry (Sale Sharks), T Dunn (Bath Rugby), B Earl (Bristol Bears), C Ewels (Bath Rugby), E Genge (Leicester Tigers), J George (Saracens), J Hill (Exeter Chiefs), T Hill (Worcester Warriors), M Itoje (Saracens), J Launchbury (Wasps), L Ludlam (Northampton Saints), B Obano (Bath Rugby), D Ribbans (Northampton Saints), J Singleton (Gloucester Rugby), K Sinckler (Bristol Bears), W Stuart (Bath Rugby), S Underhill (Bath Rugby), B Vunipola (Saracens), M Vunipola (Saracens), H Williams (Exeter Chiefs), J Willis (Wasps).

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    RedWarrior 16 minutes ago
    Many England fans echoing the same gripe following Six Nations loss

    The English defense was excellent in the first half. This is considering Ireland's attack has improved significantly since the Autumn with former Leinster attack coach Goodman. Ireland were beaten by NZ in the Autumn, are behind SA and arguably behind France so de facto 4th in order (rankings take time to catch up) As Eddie Jones said Ireland are still in that elite group so England's domination in the first half is noteworthy.

    I believe they have spent the time since the Autumn largely on defence. On broken play they were relying on Smiths instint along with some jiggery pokery. For Smiths early line break a Twindaloo blocked Baird which left the gap for smith. It looked like he did Aki, but Baird was a little late arriving and clever play by Tom Curry allowed the gap for Smith. Earls line break was Smith spotting Baird coming out and beating him with a beautiful pass to Earl.

    We saw the rehearsed plays for a couple of Ireland's tries. The Aki try was just identifying that England tended to hide Smith on the wing creating a vulnerability which Ireland exploited with one of Akis great finishes.

    Although Ireland were relaxing at the end the two English tries were good enough quality and we may see more of it next week (Scotland will also have taken note).

    Although on the easier side of the draw Borthwick almost took England to a RWC final.

    But in common with the top4 you need to have firepower to get those tries in big games. Can Borthwick manage that? I don't think so.

    Next week even if England have a great first half again, you would be looking at France converting 3 of those Irish chances and pushing on after the break.

    Can Borthwick develop a plan to beat France in the next few years. If the answer is no England need to find someone who can.

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