Eddie Jones has pledged to leave no Japanese stone unturned in his attempt to help England mount a successful challenge for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The head coach has already held meetings about using the training camps earmarked for Team GB’s athletes before the 2020 Olympic Games and is also planning to fly his players over for acclimatisation sessions next year.
Having coached in Japan, Jones believes the first Rugby World Cup to be staged in Asia will differ markedly from previous tournaments and is determined to ensure his squad are suitably prepared.
“From the culture point of view everything’s going to be different,” he said. “You can’t expect it to be the same as a western tournament. It’ll be a fantastic cultural experience for the fans and the players.
“The aim is for us to be self-sufficient here so we don’t have to rely on the organising committee and we’ve got places we can go where they will look after us. I went and had a look at a potential training camp in Tokyo courtesy of the British Olympic Committee. They’re trying to set up their camps for 2020 so we’re trying to work with them to maybe use one of their camps. I’m going to a camp in Kobe and I’ve already got a camp in Miyazaki that’s one of my favourites. I’m already in preliminary discussions with them.”
England being drawn in the same pool as France and Argentina has done nothing to alter Jones’s belief that every side will need to be unusually adaptable at the tournament.
“There’ll be two distinctive types of weather,” the Australian said. “It gets so humid and so wet here [in Japan] in late September – it’s almost impossible to hang on to the ball. So I think teams will have to adjust to that. Then in October the weather here is beautiful – warm, 22 degrees, dry, so the game will change.
“I expect the early part of the tournament to be very stop-start, to be set-piece oriented and a good kicking game, and then the rest of the tournament I expect to finish like the England tournament, with scoring in many different ways.”
Jones, accordingly, will place a heavy emphasis on ensuring his players are ready. “I can guarantee we’ll be prepared. There are sports science ways of preparing for it and there are psychological ways. One of the psychological ways is to make sure your players have endured the conditions before so they know what to expect. It’s different playing when it’s hot and wet from when it’s cold and wet – your body feels different. So we’ll make sure we give the players the necessary experience.”
Jones will also be bringing his coaches over to familiarise them with the cultural aspects of living and working in Japan. “I’m bringing part of the [non-playing] staff over to go around the likely training areas and get an understanding of how to interact with the local staff. We’d also like to bring the team over in 2018 for a training camp; we’re just trying to find a window to bring them here.”
Given his own Japanese heritage and his success with the Brave Blossoms at the 2015 World Cup, where they defeated South Africa in the pool stages, Jones is hopeful England will receive a decent amount of local backing in 2019.
“I think we’ll get more support from the local community because of that,” he said. “That’ll help during the games, without a doubt. They love the Kiwis here. They’ll get five‑star treatment; we’ll get four‑and‑a‑half-star.”
