The Sunday Times - UK (2022-02-13

6 February 13, 2022The Sunday Times

Rugby Union Guinness Six Nations

On first viewing, Eddie Jones’s team

selection is full of eye-catching

positives. At last Jones has granted

Alex Dombrandt a starting

opportunity. The No 8 with the soft

hands, the turn of foot and the

symbiotic relationship with his club

partner, the fly half Marcus Smith,

is long overdue his chance.

Playing off his shoulder is Bristol

Bears’ Harry Randall. There is no

more up-tempo scrum half in the

Gallagher Premiership. He has the

speed to create chances by

exploiting the smallest gaps. Jones

“wants to start fast and take the

game to them”. Randall is the man

to speed up the England game that

was so slow in Edinburgh.

Dombrandt and Randall in

tandem possess the skills to force

Italy’s defence to worry about the

threat on the fringes. Ben Youngs

made England’s one clean break in

the first half against Scotland but

the good work was undermined by

the reversion to his static kicking

game of old. The tempo dropped

and Smith was forced to operate

against a defence under no

pressure. Phase ball was lethargic,

the defence settled. Smith doing

not very much wasn’t the worst

outcome. He could have overplayed

his hand in a frantic effort to make

something happen. He needs to

shape the side and to do that he

yearns for the sort of quick

possession England have spurned

for a few years now.

Pop passes from Smith to Henry

Slade were a waste of time in

Scotland. Slade cuts angles. In

Edinburgh he tried to clatter but

not with any great success. The

Exeter Chiefs centre’s team-mate

Jack Nowell could come in for some

heavy-duty carrying off the wing,

with Smith’s regular colleague Joe

Marchant taking more of Slade’s

burden, freeing him to create

chances for others.

The players at 8, 9, 12, 11 and 13 —

all operating at a pace that escaped

England against Scotland — is

exactly what England require. It

should not be beyond this fresh-

faced group’s ability to light up

Rome in the first hour.

But then what? Bring on a scrum

half, Youngs, who is one of the

world’s most experienced to enjoy

the party? Or is Jones worried that

England may have to raise the

drawbridge and play siege rugby

with the Leicester Tigers scrum half

kicking Italy into submission while

George Ford replaces Smith to close

out the game.

There is no point putting Ford on

the bench unless it is to offer an

alternative strategy. Beneath some

exciting selections lurks a strain of

English conservatism trapped in

the body of an Australian.

on one occasion it appeared that

England tried to persuade the referee

that Scotland were wheeling the ball

— a nice try.”

SJ: Scotland did deserve to win. It is

hard for me to recall one area in

which England were superior;

possibly the driving maul. They also

England match as if the Scots

deserved to win; when everybody

could see that they were second best

in every aspect of the match. They

only got a sniff of a win because of

one bad mistake by England and

decisions by the officials; otherwise

England would have been deservedly

home and dry. As an example, the

last scrum of the game was reset four

times by the referee. The

commentators said that at any other

time in the game the referee would

have awarded a penalty. Stephen

Jones, alone as far as I can see,

reported: “It was reset four times and

S

ome matches can lapse

rapidly into mere memory.

Others throw up controver-

sies and other issues that

keep the debate boiling.

Even this weekend, a week

after the Calcutta Cup clash,

what amounts to a cater-

wauling has continued.

We received nearly 1,000 reactions

from subscribers and other readers

beneath our match report alone. It

would be an exaggeration to say the

majority praised my flawless literary

genius, or indeed that anyone

mentioned it. But contained in the

debate in all forms of communication

was a sustained impatience and

frustration with Eddie Jones, now

attracting serious dissent among

readers.

“Get rid of Jones,” wrote Peter

Gardiner. “Both of them!” There,

Eddie. Bound together at last.

The reactions flew thick and fast,

all week. Here are the best of them

and my responses to them.

Robin Paine: As soon as Marcus

[Smith] was replaced, the game

changed, discipline collapsed and it

all fell apart. Before Marcus left, the

team were in a rhythm and Eddie

should have left them alone.

Bob Marlow: If, after 60 minutes

of the Calcutta Cup match, Eddie

Jones had asked Gregor Townsend

which four England players he would

like substituted, Ellis Genge, Kyle

Sinckler, Lewis Ludlam and Marcus

Smith would have been high on his

list. England may well have lost

anyway, but Jones’s substitution-by-

rote policy does not help.

Stephen Jones: You have to love

the epic grandeur of the visions of

the talented Smith winning the

game mostly on his own, and his

undoubted natural gifts. But are such

talents really transmissible to Test

rugby? For me, the match turned

from the bench, but because

Scotland brought on two South

African beasts [WP Nel and Pierre

Schoeman] up front.

Smith had stopped being

influential in my view. Those who

attacked Eddie for hauling off Smith

were banking on him doing

something he hadn’t managed to do

when he was on.

Anton Deek: Could the next

person to interview either Ben

Youngs or Jones please ask them to

explain the box-kick obsession?

SJ: Youngs has been an England

stalwart; Jones has been fanatically

loyal to him, but the bizarre sight of

ENGLAND AND

EDDIE

STEPHEN

JONES

Rugby Correspondent

Murrayfield performance drew

responses from more than 1,000

readers. We pick the best of them

THE DEBATE

him launching kick after kick to no

apparent tactical advantage or

purpose — indeed, direct to

Scotland’s hard-running back three —

suggested he was kicking to orders.

Mike Coombes: Stephen Jones

writes his report of the Scotland v

Keeping old

guard even

on the bench

is Jones at

his most

conservative

STUART

BARNES