Eddie Jones taking huge risk by banking all on World Cup

It was not so much the result as the performance that was the worry on Sunday, for Argentina are a good side who have defeated New Zealand and Australia this year and won a Test series against Scotland. Michael Cheika has had an immediate impact on the Pumas, whose tenacity in defence made life difficult for England.

Eddie Jones’s team did not help themselves, mind you. England were not only wasteful in possession, given how they dominated the game, but careless and undisciplined. Their intensity and energy was low. “Sometimes you get into a game and you just haven’t got the right level of arousal or commitment and for whatever reason we were lacking that,” the head coach said.

That lack of urgency could be illustrated by two key moments: the build-up to England’s first try and Argentina’s second try.

Marcus Smith spotted space in behind the Argentina defensive line and called for Ben Youngs to kick ahead, a spark of inspiration that earned England a five-metre scrum and led to Joe Cokanasiga scoring. But when Smith set off in pursuit as Youngs skipped the ball ahead, barely any of his teammates reacted and went with him. It was bizarre.

Argentina’s second try was a breakaway scored by Santiago Carreras, who scooped up a loose pass from Owen Farrell near his 22 and sprinted downfield to score. Farrell immediately signalled for a potential knock-on and Jack Nowell, one of the cover defenders, stopped his chase and began to walk. Where was the desperation?

“We haven’t perhaps been so good at flicking the switch to England mode. We know that is becoming a bit of a trend,” Maro Itoje said. “We need to get back on England time, England mode, England way of thinking a bit sooner.”

Clearly that lack of urgency is unacceptable – but it makes sense too, when you consider how England are contextualising these November games as stepping stones for the World Cup next year; games to be won, yes, but without revealing too much.

Cheika’s attitude with the Pumas is the opposite. “We are talking about the best teams in the world here. Every game is played on its merits,” he said, having secured his first win in eight attempts against Jones, his former Randwick teammate.

After England’s fifth defeat in nine Tests this year, Jones was left urging supporters to keep the faith, assuring them that all would be all right on the night come the World Cup.

It is a high-risk strategy because anything other than lifting the Webb Ellis trophy in Paris next autumn will render all that went before a colossal waste. But Jones, the highest-paid international coach, operates this way because he has long concluded that England’s club-country structure does not give him enough preparation time and therefore works against the needs of the national team; a view shared by his employers at the RFU.

The England squad were in camp for two weeks before the Pumas game, using the time in Jersey and Bagshot to try to pick up from where they left off on the summer tour to Australia. Jones said that Smith, Farrell and Manu Tuilagi had managed only three training sessions together in that time.

Smith and Farrell is a playmaking combination that should work, but neither seems to have the freedom to play their natural game. England’s attack, an area they have been promising to improve, was again cluttered and confused. Is that preparation or game plan or coaching?

Jones is convinced that the only meaningful difference he can make to the England team will be when they gather for their pre-World Cup camp next summer, hence his approach to these games, and his relaxed demeanour after the defeat on Sunday night.

“I always back myself in a World Cup because I have that crucial currency of time,” he wrote in his book Leadership. “It is much easier in a World Cup year when you have access to them for two or even three months before the tournament starts. It’s amazing how you see the acceleration of your plans when you’ve got the players with you on a full-time basis.”

Jones claims that his coaches have sometimes been barred from visiting club training sessions, although it is understood that Richard Cockerill, England’s forwards coach, is a welcome presence around the Gallagher Premiership for the manner in which he engages with the club coaches, seeking their input and day-to-day expertise.

The RFU and Premiership Rugby have begun negotiations over a new club-country deal, to come into force in 2024.

Ensuring the elite players are better prepared for Test duty is a priority for the union.

Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, floated a form of central contracts as being one possible solution, by reducing the financial impact on clubs while giving England greater control.

The clubs were unconvinced by that initial idea of joint contracts but there is a general agreement that the model needs to change. “[We are searching for] a different way we can work with the clubs and have a better structure in place so we achieve greater financial stability for the clubs and we also achieve better quality of players coming into the national team – or better preparedness for the national team,” Sweeney said.

While those talks continue, England are back in a familiar situation of having their backs against the wall. They responded poorly in the Six Nations but admirably on the summer tour, coming from 1-0 down to win the three-Test series against Australia.

Japan, who will be tricky opponents, head to Twickenham on Saturday before England face New Zealand and South Africa. “We’re a team who responds really well to pressure, that’s the character of the team,” Jones said.

England, though, should not always require a punch in the face to get them going.

– The Times

Originally published as Eddie Jones taking huge risk by banking all on World Cup