Anyone who has ever watched a Mad Max film will know what to expect when England and Australia collide in Saturday’s first Test. Physical, hard-nosed invaders intent on survival in a hostile land? Eddie Jones is looking at a similar scenario and has duly assembled a hand-picked bunch of motivated road warriors to make a forceful first impression.
Looking down the list it is also possible to detect a sense of clear-eyed purpose not always conspicuous when England travel to the southern hemisphere at the end of a long, hard season. The 10-12 combination of Owen Farrell and Luther Burrell has squeezed out the smaller, lighter George Ford and there are four specialist locks in the matchday 23. The powerful Marland Yarde has also ousted the unfortunate Jack Nowell, adding further to the percussive feel. Short of booking AC/DC to play the anthems, there could hardly be a more heavy-duty occasion in prospect.
That, at least, is Jones’s confident belief. The last thing he wants is for Australia’s backs, coached by his former colleague Michael Cheika, to be allowed excessive freedom. No matter that none of England’s back-line beyond Farrell plays for a side good enough to finish in the Premiership’s top four this season. This is a XV chosen less on recent form than a specific ability to play the direct, relentless style Jones believes can deliver a famous series victory: “We can’t do what’s been done with previous England teams. We’ve got to have a different mindset and a different way of how we play the game against Australia to change history.”
If it works, Jones’s reputation as the canniest rugby brain around will be further enhanced. He wants England to break their cycle of southern hemisphere under-achievement – with the notable exception of 2003 – by embracing the “Bodyline” mantra he has been discussing for weeks. “The game’s going to go to a different level on Saturday night. Knowing Cheik, they will be breathing fire.
“All they want to do is make a physical statement … that’s how Cheik wants to play the game. I reckon the first scrum’s going to be fun.”
At first glance the dropping of the combative Nowell might appear at odds with this bristling trend, but Jones has been impressed with the 24-year-old Yarde’s positive response to a withering character assessment dished out last month. “He had a bit of an attitude on him so I sorted that out,” said Jones, matter-of-factly. “He has probably blown a bit of his career by being too big for his boots. He is back down to earth now and has the potential to be a really special player for us.”
This will hardly console Nowell, the wing’s fine game for Exeter in the Premiership final against Saracens having perversely counted against him. “When you’re in finals there’s a tendency not to do much training,” added Jones.
“And if you don’t train the reality is you de-train. We know this game is going to be 20-30% faster and have more intensity than anything that’s been played domestically in the northern or southern hemisphere. The guys who have been with us at Brighton and for the Wales week are up to speed.”
Different criteria, even so, have been applied to Ford, dropped as the starting fly-half for the first time since Jones took over. His best form was proving elusive even before he missed numerous kicks against Wales at the end of May, but Jones predicts only a temporary demotion. “He’s a fantastic little guy. As I said after the Wales game, I don’t think England rugby appreciates what a good player he is. He is all class. Glen Ella had one look at him and said: ‘This kid can play.’ He’s a fine player now and he’s going to get better.”
In the interim, though, Jones wants England to make an instant impact on the series. Maro Itoje will start at lock but is poised to move to No6 in the second half, with replacements Courtney Lawes and Joe Launchbury adding further impetus. Make some early dents and, with Mike Brown set to win his 50th cap, England feel they can go 1-0 ahead in the best-of-three series and then tweak their gameplan accordingly.
“Every good English side, whether it’s in cricket or rugby, want to smash people,” Jones added. “It’s part of the English DNA. We set out at the start of the Six Nations to be the most dominant team in Europe. We achieved that. Now we’ve got an opportunity to break into the top three in the world. So let’s swing the bat and see how we go. A series victory would be massive. It would make everyone in the world stand up and say: ‘Maybe England are trying to do something different now.’”
England: M Brown (Harlequins); A Watson (Bath), J Joseph (Bath), L Burrell (Northampton), M Yarde (Harlequins); O Farrell (Saracens), B Youngs (Leicester); M Vunipola (Saracens), D Hartley (capt), D Cole (Leicester), G Kruis (Saracens), M Itoje (Saracens), C Robshaw (Harlequins), J Haskell (Wasps), B Vunipola (Saracens).
Replacements: L Cowan-Dickie (Exeter), M Mullan (Wasps), P Hill (Northampton), J Launchbury (Wasps), C Lawes (Northampton), D Care (Harlequins), G Ford (Bath), J Nowell (Exeter).
