74 2GM Thursday November 25 2021 | the times
SportRugby union
Samoa and Tonga are likely to be the
main beneficiaries of a groundbreaking
rule that will allow players to switch
allegiance if they have not played Test
rugby for three years.
A number of the smaller nations
could be strengthened considerably as
the likes of Israel Folau and Charles
Piutau would be available for Tonga,
while Julian Savea and Lima Sopoaga
could play for Samoa.
Bill Beaumont, the chairman of
World Rugby, had made it a key pledge
of his re-election programme that
players should be allowed one opportu-
nity to transfer allegiance and the move
was passed narrowly by the World
Rugby council yesterday, with the RFU
voting in favour.
From January 1, if they have not
played international rugby for 36
months, players will be able to switch to
a nation with which they have aPacific Islands set to benefit
after eligibility rules relaxed
“credible link via birthright”, such as
having been born in that country or
having a parent or grandparent who
was born in that country.
Folau, the former Australia full back
who has not played international rugby
since 2018, having been sacked for mak-
ing homophobic posts on social media,
could play for Tonga, the country of his
parents’ birth. He could be joined by
Piutau, who won the last of 17 caps for
New Zealand six years ago. Similarly,
Savea has not played for the All Blacks
since the series against the British &
Irish Lions in 2017, and would be eligible
for Samoa, as would Sopoaga, also
formerly of New Zealand. The Vunipo-
la brothers, Mako and Billy, would qual-
ify to play for Tonga in March 2024 if
England continue to overlook them.
Dan Leo, the former Samoa forward
who is now the chief executive of
Pacific Rugby Players Welfare, tweeted:
“This goes a long way to restoring many
people’s faith in the sport.”John WesterbyJones will remain head
coach until 2023 World Cup
in which they lost to Scotland, Wales
and Ireland, was partly due to a sense of
entitlement in the squad.
England were damaged by the fallout
from the Saracens salary-cap scandal,
which Jones said led to the senior lead-
ership group cracking during the Six
Nations.
Jones considered replacing Owen
Farrell as captain but opted to break up
those under him, omitting Mako Vuni-
pola, Billy Vunipola, George Ford and
Jamie George from his autumn squad.
George was recalled but the new
leadership group under Farrell consist-
ed of Courtney Lawes, who captained
England twice in the autumn, Tom
Curry, Ellis Genge and Henry Slade.
Jones believes Anthony Watson, the
wing who was injured for the autumn
series, “has the potential to bring
sustained excellence to the team”.
Jones sees Itoje as a player who sets
performance standards, comparing his
attitude to that of Richie McCaw, the
former New Zealand captain, but he
doubts whether he will live up to his
early moniker as FEC: future England
captain.
“I might be wrong, but I am not
sure Maro is a future England
captain,” Jones said. “He is going
to be one of the great players, but
Maro is very inward-looking. He
drives himself rather than anyone
else. He doesn’t usually influence
people off the field.
“Maro might be able to
develop this skill and
relate to people even more ef-
fectively, but he has work to do
here. He has the intelli-
gence to do it and so no
door is closed to him.
“At the same time,
no door is automati-
cally open to him ei-
ther. We’ll just keep
reviewing his role and
his contribution and see
where it slots into the process
and the organisation.
“We’ve sent Maro to acting
classes, which is having a bene-
ficial effect. He speaks more
influentially now, and I am
hopeful he can develop more
communication and leader-
ship skills. Acting brings Ma-
ro out of himself.
“We don’t want to quench his in-
ner drive, but we will have made
huge progress if we can tap into it
in different ways so that it trans-
mits to his team-mates.
“The acting classes are a practical
step to helping Maro and others
share that internal fire and magic
which makes them special. We’re
always looking to see if we can devel-
op these traits and find the right mix of
leaders.”
‘Acting helps
Maro bring
out his fire
and magic’
Jones has a vision to make the leader-
ship group more fluid, so that every-
thing is not pinned on the captain. The
role of captain would always be under
review. Farrell’s natural mentality
when playing does not help him estab-
lish a rapport with all referees, Jones be-
lieves, because he excels when he is ag-
gressive. Jones said Curry and Itoje
would face similar challenges.
However, Farrell’s leadership
through a period of adversity im-
pressed Jones and England are helping
him to develop as an on-field captain by
generating situations in training to test
him. The RFU has engaged the consult-
ants Deloitte to run a leadership
programme for the England squad and
England have put Farrell in touch with
Cameron Smith, the former Australia
rugby league captain.
This focus on leadership emerged
during last season’s Six Nations; a result
that Jones regretted but valued for the
focus it provided, saying that the squad
could not ignore the need for a
transition.
Jones realised that the anti-Saracens
sentiment, which he first noticed at the
2019 World Cup, was dividing the
squad. He sensed that there were
resentments within the squad
after keeping faith with the
Saracens contingent, even
though they had played
hardly any rugby after
the club were relegated
from the Gallagher
Premiership for
salary-cap breaches.
“The fallout from
the Saracens deba-
cle... had hurt us
massively,” he
wrote.
“Eventually the
leadership group
would crack as the
influence of the
Saracens contin-
gent waned. We had
serious problems.”
Jones picked up on
a sense of entitlement
in the squad, caused
by interest from me-
dia, sponsors and fans
turning players “into
‘stars’ or, even worse,
celebrities”.
It was a point he
addressed in the
autumn, with his
comments about Emma
Raducanu and the dangers of
players being distracted by
fame. He wrote that compla-
cency corrupts the soul of the
team.
He blamed this mindset for
the defeat by Wales, when
they had fought back from
two controversial tries only to
go down 40-24, writing that
the team seemed to think
entitlement rather than grit
and hard work were needed.continued from back
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After the defeat by Ireland in the final
match, Jones concluded there were five
players unlikely to play Test rugby
again.
Jones admits to struggling as a coach
during lockdown because the restric-
tions prevented him from interacting
with players and staff, and he suffered
insomnia during the Six Nations. He
insists the two years since the World
Cup final, which England lost 32-12 to
South Africa, have been the most
challenging and interesting period of
his coaching career — and made him a
much better coach.
Jones drew on those experiences
when deciding to extend his contract
and commit to coaching England
through to the 2023 World Cup. There
are passages of self-reflection, with
Jones recognising he needs to become
less blunt when engaging with
other coaches and
players because it
does not encourage
constructive com-
munication.LEADERSHIP
BY EDDIE JONES,
PAN MACMILLAN,
£20