Eddie Jones has been picking the brains of his football counterpart, Gareth Southgate, as he searches for an answer to why England are “petrified of playing Wales in Wales” on Saturday.
Southgate and the Australian netball coach Lisa Alexander spent Tuesday at England’s Bagshot training base, addressing Jones’s coaching staff in the wake of last Saturday’s lacklustre 19-16 victory over France. Afterwards Jones accepted blame for that “awful” performance and has been plotting how to improve England’s record in Wales where he is expecting hostility that extends to “daffodils to be thrown in the warm-up”.
“We’ve had a brilliant learning day today with Gareth and Lisa,” said Jones. “As we’ve always stated our aim is to get better every day and we want to get people into camp who have knowledge and great experience to learn from them. The staff shared a very interactive hour with them at a lunchtime meeting where we learnt a lot.”
Tom Wood, who left Twickenham on Saturday wearing a sling, is a fitness concern after missing training on Tuesday with a shoulder problem. Jack Clifford is standing by with Jones insistent James Haskell is still not ready to play 80 minutes and Teimana Harrison omitted from the 24-man squad.
Nathan Hughes also sat out training but with the centre Henry Slade the extra man in the 24, there is confidence that both Hughes and Wood will be fit to face Wales.
Clifford is also an option if Jones decides to put Maro Itoje back into the second row while Danny Care is in contention to start at scrum-half after impressing off the bench against France. Jack Nowell is also pushing Jonny May hard for a place on the wing.
England were victorious on their last trip to Cardiff but suffered a record 30-3 defeat four years ago and this is not the first time Jones has turned to other sports to bring an extra edge to his side. After guiding England to a series whitewash over Australia last summer, he spent a day with Orica-BikeExchange at the Tour de France and recently invited the former England footballer Danny Mills to speak about the difficulties of playing in a World Cup in Japan.
The defence coach, Paul Gustard, also recently revealed England had been learning mixed martial arts techniques but not all forays into other sports have been a success. Having introduced judo sessions during last October’s training camp in Brighton, the Wasps flanker Sam Jones suffered a broken leg.
Sam Warburton believes England merit comparison with the All Blacks and says they are the best team in the northern hemisphere. Warburton, who stood out in Wales’s 33-7 victory in Italy on Sunday, says that even though Jones’s men will be without half of their first-choice pack through injury in Cardiff, the home side will have to be at their best to end a run of three straight Six Nations defeats by England.
“England is always one of the toughest games you will play regardless of what side they bring, as they proved in Cardiff two years ago,” Warburton said. “They are deservedly tagged as the best team in the northern hemisphere and it is a fair judgment to compare them to the All Blacks: that’s how good they are.
“It is going to take a huge game from us to get the win. I watched their opening match against France and thought both teams were pretty good. Play is normally quite conservative during the opening weekend of the Six Nations but all the teams gave it a go.”
Warburton agreed with Jones that Wales find something extra when they play England. “You can sense the rivalry and you know it is the game the fans look forward to most,” he said. “It is a huge occasion for everyone involved in rugby and in Wales. As a player, you love being in the cauldron of the Principality Stadium against a team like England and it will be an anxious wait for the team announcement because you so want to be involved.
“If you are Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France or Italy in the Six Nations the biggest game is England.”
”When you chat to players from those countries, that’s how they feel. They really prioritise that match because everyone just wants to beat England. I guess that’s just due to the success they have had in the past and what they are going through now with a long unbeaten run. They are a big scalp.”
Warburton played at blindside flanker in Rome, as he did in 2013 when Wales defeated England 30-3 in Cardiff to deny them the grand slam and secure the title. “We were pretty successful in that period and I think we took it for granted a bit,” he said. “England is a crucial game and with a six-day turnaround from the weekend we have to get our preparation right.”
Wales go into the weekend at the top of the table following their victory in Rome and their highest tally of points in the opening round for 20 years. They were within centimetres of a bonus point try with the last play of the game, having trailed at the interval.
“We knew it would be tight in the first half: it was two years ago when we finished with 61 points, so it was about keeping our composure and not panicking,” said Warburton of his first match since being relieved of the captaincy. “I thought we played well but I hope we do not look back at the end of the championship and wish we had got the bonus point.
“If someone had told me that scoreline in advance, I would have taken it. It was different not being captain because you are used to players coming to you with information to tell the referee but Alun Wyn Jones has that role now and I thought his leadership was exceptional – and he put in a massive performance as always.
“Not being captain gave me more of a free role. I was playing at six and I just thought I had to have a big work rate and offer myself as a ball-carrier a bit more than I perhaps normally would, and work as hard as I could at the breakdown. I love playing in the back row alongside Justin Tipuric because he is a seven, like me, and during phase play we can interchange. I thought the combination worked really well.
“We have to play to our strengths against England rather than pick a team and try to combat the opposition. Our record against them in the Six Nations is not great in recent years and we know we are in for another tough game but this is the most competitive squad I have been involved in; selection is going to be really tough.”
