England coach Eddie Jones has warned that "no one is indispensable" as he mulls over his best options for the key Six Nations away game against France on Saturday. The probability of wet weather in Paris may influence England's selection in certain areas, not least at halfback, the backrow and in midfield.
So keen is Jones to locate the tactical antidote to his side’s Calcutta Cup defeat that he rose at 4am on Monday, unable to sleep because of the matters raised by England’s sub-par performance in Scotland. While he confirmed Dylan Hartley would continue to lead the team at the Stade de France, the head coach appears to be considering some changes to the starting XV.
With the forecast for Paris somewhere between damp and torrential, and the pitch invariably on the heavy side, Jones is braced for a “slogathon” against a big French pack who might fancy an arm wrestle.
England's desire to improve at the breakdown could involve the Bath flanker Sam Underhill and there is also a case for starting the Saracens' halfback duo of Richard Wigglesworth and Owen Farrell on Saturday and bolstering the midfield with the physical Ben Te'o.
Wigglesworth’s kicking game is as good as anyone’s and France’s formidable inside centre Mathieu Bastareaud will also be eyeing George Ford’s channel. Jones has so far favoured dual playmakers at 10 and 12 but this weekend could conceivably prove an exception to the rule.
“I’m not wedded to anything,” Jones said. “The players understand that. They’ve got to perform. Who plays at 10 and 12 will be done on who we think is best for that game.”
To reinforce his point, the Australian wheeled out one of the oldest yarns in his coaching manual. “There’s an old story about a coach with a bucket of water in his office. He’d say: ‘Come here son, put your hand in this bucket.’ When the player took it out he’d say: ‘What’s happened?’ Your hand creates a hole but as soon as your hand comes out the hole’s filled in.
“No one’s indispensable. It’s the same with me. We’re in a high performance environment. High performance means you’ve got to perform. [If] I lose one game I might be on flight QF1 back to Sydney. Who knows? You see it in football all the time now and rugby is becoming more and more like football.”
Jones will have a clearer picture after training on Tuesday, with Sam Simmonds and Elliot Daly both back in contention for the matchday 23. Either way, he is not ruling out a "horses for courses" selection as England seek to maintain their Six Nations title hopes.
“There is very heavy rain forecast and we all know the Stade de France is a heavy pitch anyway,” Jones said. “We could pick a team to play a ‘slogathon’. They will be very physical and aggressive. Jacques Brunel picks very big teams ... we know what is going to come at us, we have just got to be good enough to stop it.”
Even if England do slump to a second consecutive away defeat, Jones has already been enduring sleepless nights. “Last night I woke up at 4.0am,” he said. “I can’t sleep because it annoys me losing a game we shouldn’t have lost. There’s usually a thought in my head. I go to the office and start sending texts and emails to various staff members. Some of them reply straight away, some of them don’t.
“I always find it’s the best time to think. I don’t have anxiety, I just have thoughts about what we have to fix. If you ask any coach who has coached at a high level they would say the same.
“I’ve coached for 20 years. If I’d been anxious for 20 years I’d be dead,” Jones added. “The one thing I’ve learned is I should get two dogs because then I’ll always have two friends. I’m looking for another dog at the moment.”
(Guardian service)
