Jonathan Joseph will return to action for Bath this month after making an earlier than expected recovery from surgery on a chest injury he had after the World Cup. It was feared the centre would be out for three months and be doubtful for the start of the Six Nations but the England coach, Eddie Jones, received some welcome news on his first day in the job.
“Jonathan is doing well and he will be back before Christmas,” said the Bath coach, Mike Ford. “He has trained this week and we will have a look at him after the players have had a day off with Saturday’s match against Northampton in mind. That might be too much for him but he should certainly be available after that.”
Bath play Wasps in back-to-back Champions Cup matches after this weekend and Ford will receive a call in the coming days from Jones, who has pledged to contact all 12 coaches/directors of rugby in the Premiership, and the pair know each other from the time they spent together at Saracens in 2006.
“Eddie will get the fundamentals of the game in place and select intelligent footballers who can manage a game, adapting and changing during it,” said Ford, a member of the England backroom team for five years up to 2011. “He will want players who are able to play what is in front of them, running, kicking or driving as necessary.
“The day of players being told what to do is dying and that is a good thing. It is now about giving them responsibility and, as a smart coach, Eddie will do that. The team is set up to do really well with the players he has at his disposable and the test of any coach is picking the right ones. What he will bring is experience of World Cups and that, as was shown when the pressure built on England a few months ago, is crucial.”
The Bath hooker Rob Webber was a member of England’s World Cup squad. He believes the strength of the Premiership clubs will provide Jones with a strong foundation, with the English contingent in the European Cup making their best start to the tournament for seven years.
“The Premiership has been questioned and I think that is naive,” Webber said. “All the clubs are well coached and have developed depth with two or three players in each position. What was most frustrating about a bitterly disappointing World Cup was that we did not fulfil our potential.
“It came down to fine margins and it slipped away from us. A new coach means a fresh set of eyes, but a number of the players will be around for the 2019 World Cup and everyone learned from this year’s experience. I do not know what Eddie Jones will want to change, but what we saw this year was unprecedented media coverage. The game in England had never seemed so popular, and if people reported what they saw when things did not go well, it is up to us to turn that around and make it a turning point for English rugby.”
Jones is this week speaking to the three assistant coaches of his predecessor, Stuart Lancaster, as he decides the make-up of his own team. The Bristol forwards coach Steve Borthwick, who spent a year with Jones as Japan’s lineout coach, is being lined up for a reunion. But Bristol have not yet had an approach and as well as wanting compensation for the former England captain, who has just started a two-year contract, would like him to remain with the club for the remainder of the season as they bid to end their seven-year exile from the Premiership.
