The Daily Telegraph - 06.08.2019

Sport

Cricket World Cup win

can inspire us to success

in Japan, says George

Close bond:

Jamie George

has struck up a

friendship with

Eoin Morgan

(below)

A

humiliating group-

stage exit at the 2015

World Cup; a

prolonged bout of

recriminations and

soul-searching; the

replacement of a domestic head

coach with an Australian and then

a corresponding upturn in

fortunes.

The final piece of this

redemptive equation for the

England one-day cricket team was

the capture of the World Cup last

month, providing their rugby

brethren with the inspiration they

need heading to Japan. Head coach

Eddie Jones even delayed a team

meeting so his squad could watch

the thrilling denouement at Lord’s,

which was raucously celebrated at

their Bristol training base.

“We were lucky that Eddie is a

cricket fan, so he pushed a meeting

back as it went into the super-

over,” said Jamie George, the

hooker, who boasts several links to

England’s world champions.

George was room-mates at

school with Sam Billings, who

missed the World Cup with a

dislocated shoulder, and has also

struck up a friendship with

England one-day captain Eoin

Morgan, who regularly attends

Saracens home games. “I know

him through that and I was at

Lord’s watching him play, sent him

a text and he was around for a beer

afterwards,” George said. A few

pints later and an unlikely

connection was struck.

It was during those

conversations that George came to

appreciate the similarities between

the teams despite the very

different nature of the sports.

“What that England cricket

team has done over the last four

years has been incredible and

there were a lot of parallels

between us and them,” George

said. “We have been through very

similar challenges. To see them

come out the other side and be

crowned world champions is fully

deserved and I’m very proud of

them doing that.

“You can see the parallels in

how they had some pretty

disappointing campaigns, some

tough losses. Very much like us.

There are not direct parallels in

terms of the way the game is

played, but in the team culture and

the rest of it. That’s something

Eoin Morgan is very keen on

talking about, so I have chatted

about that with him before. He is a

very impressive bloke and I have

learnt a huge amount from him in

terms of what he has done with the

England cricket team.”

Whether Jones’s squad can

reach their own promised land will

largely depend on how well they

absorb those lessons around team

leadership and culture. The

suspicion remains that while

England can be world beaters with

the sun on their backs, the

presence of a few rain clouds can

cause them to disintegrate. The

31-0 capitulation against Scotland

in the Six Nations was a

demonstration of the fragility of

the bonds that are supposed

to tie the team together.

Hence, as much as

England are being

physically beasted in their

training camps this

summer, Jones has also

prioritised building team

unity. “We are together for

a long time and

togetherness is something

Eddie highlighted from the Six

Nations as something we needed

to work on clearly, and I think it is

something that is definitely

tighter now than we were during

the Six Nations,” George said. “We

are having some really good

conversations about how to get

better and we are also just getting

to know each other a bit better and

that has put us in good stead.

Hopefully when the pressure

comes on as a group we will be

tighter and it will make it easier to

get through those times.”

By contrast, George’s club,

Saracens, are probably the

closest-knit team in rugby.

Even under the greatest of

pressure, Mark McCall’s side

retain belief in themselves

and their tactics, which

was a key factor in their

domestic and European

double last season.

George, though, says that

it is not as simple as England

importing the Saracens

blueprint. “Eddie’s always

looking to pick up bits from

everyone. I’m lucky that I

play for a relatively

successful club and Eddie

tries to pick our brains but,

at the same time, it’s a

different environment,” he

said. “We’re trying to create

something similar, but our own

INTERVIEW

Daniel Schofield ld

Hooker believes rugby

squad can learn from

how Eoin Morgan’s side

overcame poor results

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16 *** Tuesday 6 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph