Eddie Jones has revealed the final four players in his World Cup squad were picked due to their character after confessing there could be trouble within the playing group in Japan.
The England head coach caught people off guard with a number of selections as he announced his 31-man squad yesterday.
Uncapped Bath wing Ruaridh McConnochie and Northampton flanker Lewis Ludlam were the shock inclusions, with the latter only making his debut in Sunday’s win over Wales at Twickenham. They form part of a squad that Jones revealed was partly picked on players’ character.
“Consistently at World Cups, I pick one to 15 first, then I pick 28 to 31 — they are your absolute keys,” said Jones. “So, in reality, 28 to 31 are possibly not going to have much game time and so the character and the behaviour of those guys is super important, absolutely vital. And then you try to pick a blend from 15 to 28, so there is a process that I follow.”
When asked to clarify if Jones meant the last four picks for his squad were character driven, he replied: “One hundred per cent.”
The Australian would not divulge who those players were, but his comments carry weight, given the fact he also raised concerns over discipline yesterday.
England’s World Cup in New Zealand in 2011 was marred by a series of off-field issues, while more recently allegations of a bust-up between Worcester centre Ben Te’o and Harlequins full-back Mike Brown during a training camp in Italy have surfaced. Neither made yesterday’s squad.
Jones admitted he cannot promise trouble will not occur in Japan but, if it does, he will deal with it.
“I’ve coached for 25 years, I’ve never been confident in a team being smooth,” he added. “All I can do is trust the players — they are adults, they’re responsible, they want to play for England and we could have some problems. If we do, we’ll deal with them. Every team has problems. Nothing’s ever changed — the senior players run the team, but sometimes the coach has got to come in and tell them to pull their socks up, or pick up the bottles.”
