Eddie Jones has identified Marcus Smith and Joe Simmonds among a number of potential England debutants this summer, with the head coach set to cast his eye over a dozen prospects in the coming weeks as the Rugby Football Union mulls over his future.
Jones said after the dismal defeat by Ireland on Saturday that he would be making changes to his England squad – if he stays in the role – and his hand would be somewhat forced for matches against USA and Canada this summer, assuming they go ahead, with a number of his senior players set to be away with the British & Irish Lions.
The RFU has launched a review into the Six Nations campaign, which is set to take about 10 days to complete. The findings will then be presented to the RFU board with the results announced around mid-April and the union’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, has refused to rule out sacking Jones.
Jones, meanwhile, is set to press on with his planning and has highlighted scrum-half and fly-half as positions in which he is looking for young talent. In all but one of his 64 Tests in charge, Jones has picked either George Ford or Owen Farrell to start at fly-half – the exception being Danny Cipriani, once, in 2018 – which has contributed to the perception he has become too loyal to a core group of players.
Smith was previously involved in a number of training squads while Jones – who also namechecked Wasps’ Charlie Atkinson and Worcester’s 18-year-old Fin Smith – has come under fire for consistently ignoring Simmonds, who captained Exeter to a Premiership and European Cup double last season.
At scrum-half Jones has only ever started Ben Youngs, Danny Care, Willi Heinz or Richard Wigglesworth – all of whom are 30 or older. “I am going to be up and down the freeways the next few weeks,” he said. “We have a list of 10-12 players we are going to look at. There are some good young guys, particularly in the 9s and 10s and that is the hardest area to adapt to Test rugby.
“There are some young 10s like Atkinson, Marcus Smith, Fin Smith, Simmonds at Exeter. They are all possibly going to have the opportunity to step up to the plate. It is the toughest position in world rugby. You have so much pressure, so little time and space, a lot of decisions to make so it’s a fantastic opportunity for one of the young guys to step up.”
England’s 32-18 loss to Ireland – meaning they lost to all three of their home nations rivals for the first time in 45 years – may well end up costing a number of Jones’s players a place in the Lions squad. “We might rest a few if that’s the case,” Jones added when speaking to the O2 Inside Line podcast. “We are really keen to bring some younger guys through. It is the right time for us in terms of our World Cup planning.”
Meanwhile the Scotland head coach, Gregor Townsend, believes the deal struck which allows him to pick just five England-based players for the Six Nations finale against France is “satisfactory” despite fears the integrity of the competition is being compromised.
Townsend has been unable to select Saracens’ Sean Maitland and a number of Premiership-based fringe players for Friday’s trip to Paris as a result of an agreement over player release. The Premiership clubs – plus Saracens – were under no obligation to release their players as the rearranged match takes place outside the official Test window.
France will win the championship outright if they win with a bonus point and a margin of 21 points or more and if they manage it in similarly close circumstances to last week’s win against Wales, questions will inevitably be asked over what would have happened had Townsend had a full squad from which to choose. “It’s much more satisfactory than I thought it would be on Saturday when we were putting a team together of home-based players and Finn Russell [who plays in France],” said Townsend. “I’m glad we got a resolution. It’s a complex situation.”