Eddie Jones has hit the reset button at the start of England’s new four-year cycle. His starting lineup hasn’t changed a great deal but what better way to demonstrate that the page has been turned than declare “we want to be remembered as the greatest team that ever played rugby”?
Eddie says a lot of things, sometimes to make us buy into a narrative, sometimes to deflect, but I want to take this incredibly bold mission statement at face value and hold him and the Rugby Football Union to account to it. I’m not sure we’ll quite see tens of thousands of Twickenham supporters wearing Make England Great Again T-shirts but it’s a simple message and a metric against which Jones can be measured. It’s also a huge challenge for the RFU but at the same time a massive opportunity.
If Eddie stays true to his word, I’m excited. I want to know the plans for this team and, stylistically, how they are planning on playing, I want to understand what greatness means in the eyes of Eddie Jones and I want to know what the RFU are going to do off the field to strive for greatness.
His pursuit of greatness has coincided with sport losing one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen. Kobe Bryant achieved greatness by transcending his sport and that is what I believe England must do if they are to truly realise Eddie’s mission statement. It’s something everyone involved has to work for every single day. Kobe was known as the Black Mamba and the mamba mentality is all about repetitive lethal strikes. When England have been at their best that is what we’ve seen from them but they must strive to do it on a more regular basis.
England will never be recognised as the best the world has seen unless what they do and their behaviours on the pitch are matched by those off it. The 2003 squad were a great side, everyone recognises that, but I really feel like this 2020 team can have a similar impact. They have a chance to win the World Cup in 2023 but more than that the diversity of the team can reach out and have a profound impact.
It was a massive missed opportunity in 2003 and the events of the last few months just go to show how amateur our sport can be. We’re forever chasing our tail. We’re desperate to get into new territories, grow the game, but we can’t even police ourselves. We’ve got to get our own house in order and get the right governance. Let’s dream big but let’s get the foundation blocks set in stone. The world has moved on a lot since 2003, the game of rugby has too, but now I see an England team that genuinely reflects society and means they can reach far greater audiences.
So what can we expect from England on the pitch in the short term? I don’t think it should come as any surprise that Eddie has largely stuck with the side who started the World Cup final. Let’s not forget that was the side who tore through New Zealand the previous week. What interests me though, is the addition of Matt Proudfoot as forwards coach given how ruthlessly South Africa dismantled England’s scrum.
I’ve spoken with Siya Kolisi recently about the final in Japan and the one thing he kept coming back to was physicality. In England we often talk about tackle completion and various other metrics, South Africans talk about hurting people – it’s a very different mindset. Don’t get me wrong, I mean legally, but it is part of their makeup to hit rucks and leave a mark. Over the past few years England have looked at their very best when bringing that sort of physicality. I want to see more of it, and more consistently.
I’m also optimistic over Proudfoot’s appointment because it can be said without question that South Africa achieved greatness last November. When they set out to win a World Cup it was all about transforming South Africa, bringing hope back. Their message and their purpose was far greater than anyone’s and maybe Eddie wants to buy into that.
But he does not need to change a lot. Barring 150 minutes of rugby – 30 against Wales, 40 against Scotland and 80 against South Africa – England would have achieved something incredible last year. That may seem like a lot but when they are playing 16 Tests in 12 months it really is small margins.
There has been a freshening of the coaching staff, a few new faces in the squad but the spine of the team remains strong for a big test in France. We will see the squad evolve far more in the summer when England return to Japan for two Tests, but for now Jones is favouring continuity to a large extent. Those players have been to a World Cup final, lost it and never want to experience that feeling again.
Finally, to address the Saracens salary cap scandal. I genuinely believe it won’t make any difference within the England squad. There will be a lot of piss-taking but to imagine the Sarries boys sat together and the Exeter lads shooting them daggers from across the room could not be further from the truth. We saw at the World Cup this was one of the most united England squads for a long time and I believe the players saw the benefits of that and will want to continue in the same vein.
