Eddie and Clive

In proof that even broken clocks get it right twice a day, the Mail have posted a pretty interesting interview of Eddie Jones with Lord Baldermort asking the questions. Its well worth reading as a rough guide to what we may expect this year and going forwards from England. For those who don't want to, here's a rough summary of the important bits.

1) The Lions tour will impact on the year

Yes, I know, not a surprise, but Eddie's talking about losing 10-15 players for the Summer and maybe resting them in the Autumn as well. The latter bit's not usual if memory serves but makes sense. The players are taking on huge workloads and if we want them to be around for the World Cup, something has to give. Better to do it at a time of the coach's choosing when they need it most.

What there isn't is any talk of resting front line players who don't make the Lions, like Lancaster did in 2013. This seems understandable if England are going to get stripped as bare as Eddie and anyone who doesn't believe Gatland is totally biased expect. There'll need to be as much experience around as possible to give the many noobs a chance of making it. Eddie talks up the two windows post-Six Nations as a chance to produce great 3rd and 4th choice players and says "If we can sit down in the last week of November and say we have got 45 guys who can play Test rugby at the level that will be required at the 2019 World Cup, then this year will have been an enormous year for us."

2) Two years, two years and three months; the projects in winning a World Cup

When challenged on whether Hartley is a World Cup winning captain, Eddie said he saw the World Cup as three projects. The first two years, the next two years, then the last three months. Right now Eddie's focused on the first two years and says Hartley will do a fantastic job for those. Then they assess what happens for the next two.

Reading between the lines, we can expect a few changes to the team once we've exited the first project. I'm not going to bet on Hartley being one of the victims, but I wouldn't bet against it either. Other obvious potential victims include Haskshaw, Mike Brown, and one of Ford and Farrell. That includes a lot of Eddie's current leadership group so I'm definitely not betting on all of them going but it seems likely that the first project involves grooming new leaders.

3) Ideas from the players

Speaking of leadership, Eddie said that he wants 80% of the ideas coming from the players by the World Cup, and only 20% from the coaches. He reckons its currently 50-50 and that a year ago it was all from the coaches. As Eddie says, "the players must own the game". Its great to hear him target this, but looking at the current England team, you wonder how many of them are genuinely capable of doing that. This could play a big part in shaping who's part of the next England team and who's not.

4) Beating New Zealand

Eddie tried playing the Maori All Blacks with a lot of running the ball and he tried it with a lot of structured play. He lost the first 60-15 and the second 19-18. So cancel all thoughts of trying to beat them at their own game.

The subject of beating New Zealand comes up a lot in this interview. His assessment of the situation is as follows:

"The only way you beat them is to minimise that [unstructured play], don’t give them any loose kicks or loose ball. You don’t necessarily have to play long phases against them and if you kick, make sure you have got a good kick-chase so they have to kick the ball back to you. You minimise the situations they enjoy most and maximise those they enjoy least."

Its possible to see this as a call for very boring rugby and it may turn out that way, but that runs counter to everything we've seen of England's ruthlessness in going wide when its on this year. What it is definitely talking about is suffocating them and giving them no chance for unstructured play. That is only sensible.

He also talks about having a forward pack that has pace and power as an area where England can potentially achieve an advantage over New Zealand. We've seen him go straight for adding that with newcomers like Itoje, Clifford, George, Genge, Hill, Sinckler and on and on. Interestingly though he doesn't seem too bothered that his backs aren't physically imposing. Bluff or fact?

The only sobering note is that Eddie emphasises the importance of tempo but agrees with Lord Baldermort's statement that many clubs are playing slow rugby. When asked if he can the need for tempo across to the clubs, Eddie's response is: "No we can’t and we are not really going to try." Lets hope the clubs see the light on their own; another year of frustration dealing with the underfunded Celts in Europe might have been a step forwards.

5) The best is yet to come

Finally, Eddie says England haven't played as well as they can. That's obvious to everyone who can see lightening and hear thunder but it is good to see the coach acknowledge it and point out areas of improvement. The set-piece, defence and attack are all mentioned - or as its otherwise known, rugby - but he talks about the set-piece most. And as he says, there's still a lot of players developing.

What we can expect, therefore, hopefully, is an influx of pace and power (particularly in the pack) starting this summer but only really graduating in 2018. Once we get the pack, once we get the platform, that's when the attacking game can really take off. And from there? Victory. Hopefully.

I still remain slightly sceptical of Eddie, largely because English rugby never has nice things so he can't be a nice thing. It all makes sense so far though. Here's hoping it doesn't stop - we certainly have reason to hope.