Eddie Jones has challenged England to atone for their Calcutta Cup capitulation by channelling Muhammad Ali and leaving Italy on the canvas on Sunday.
Jones has made some of the most exciting team selections of his tenure, handing starts to Harry Randall and Alex Dombrandt and omitting six of the starters who lost to Scotland. With Marcus Smith continuing at fly-half Jones believes he and Dombrandt can reproduce their formidable double act at Harlequins with the head coach urging England to “light up Rome”.
England’s starting XV has just 347 caps which is by some distance the least experienced side Jones has named in the Six Nations. In contrast, the eight replacements boast 409 caps with Ben Youngs set to equal Jason Leonard’s all-time England record of 114 provided he comes on. Luke Cowan-Dickie is also on the bench but Jones was adamant last week’s costly yellow card against Scotland did not factor in the decision.
Against Scotland, Jones was criticised for his use of replacements, particularly in taking Smith off with 17 minutes to go when England led 17-10. But with Italy expected to tire as the match wears on, he has named a fearsome set of replacements and urged England’s starters to seize their opportunity before the power-packed bench delivers the knockout blow.
“We want to be ruthless,” said Jones. “We’ve got a chance on Sunday to atone for what we did last Saturday. We can only do that from being really ruthless and having that vision of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston. That sort of image in your head where you want to really go at them.
“When you look at the quality of our bench, it’s testament to the strength of the squad. We’ve got what would be deemed a very young and inexperienced team starting. It’s around 350 caps which is half the number of caps you need in your side to win a World Cup. We’ve got a nice blend for this game of a young and vibrant starting XV and a more worldly and experienced finishing eight.
“There is the possibility the finishing eight will have the opportunity to be Ali standing over Liston. We want to be aggressive. We want to take opportunities as they come, rather than play a pattern style of rugby. We’ve really tried to create a ‘New England’ style of rugby.”
Smith and Dombrandt in particular have forged a mightily effective relationship at Harlequins with Randall a similar style scrum-half to Danny Care, who slots in between them at club level. “We want to see Dombrandt play in a game that we think will really suit him,” said Jones. “Italy tend to be more open and unstructured type games so we feel that it’s a great game for him to start in at No 8. He’s not an orthodox No 8 – he’s a free-running No 8.
“This is the sort of game that’s going to have a fair bit of space, so it’ll suit him. Alex runs very good inside balls from Marcus. We see that certain styles fit each other and they’ve certainly got that understanding. I’m sure that’s going to happen on Sunday.” Of Randall, Jones said: “He’s a livewire half-back, he’s very good in broken play. He’s got a good solid pass on him and his kicking game is improving.”
Under Jones, England have averaged 41 points against Italy – who have lost their last 33 Six Nations matches – and a winning margin of 31. England remain the only side in the championship Italy have never beaten and are as long as 28-1 with some bookmakers to reverse that trend. England dominated territory and possession against Scotland, particularly in the first half, but Jones has now reshuffled his backline with Jack Nowell coming on to the left wing for a first start since March 2019 and Joe Marchant adopting the more familiar position of outside-centre.
“These matches are called Test matches because the opposition tests you,” said Jones. “It is not a festival game. We know it’s going to be a tough game. And the players are being encouraged to be aggressive.
“We feel that’s the way forward for England and we want to take opportunities and that was probably the thing that disappointed me the most against Scotland. We want to light up Rome. [Against Scotland] we didn’t take those opportunities as they availed themselves. What you can’t afford to do against Italy is get a picture in your head that it’s going to be an easy game.”
Jones also praised his squad for how they have dealt with the disappointment of beginning their Six Nations campaign with a defeat for the third year in a row. “The response has been good,” he said. “They were extremely disappointed after the game.
“The thing about these situations is there’s a lot of outside noise, a lot of opinions, a lot of judgment on players, and it’s important for the team to understand what is important, what we need to do rather than getting seduced by other comments. Staying committed to the team is the most important.”
