Jones opens up about how England will play

New England head coach Eddie Jones has given some clues as to how England will play when they open their Six Nations campaign against Scotland next month.

Australian Jones once said that his idea of retirement would be to be in the Caribbean watching Cricket so it should come as no surprise used that game as a reference for why he will select experienced players in his first match.

“I always think about when Australia played Test cricket against the West Indies when they had those four pace bowlers and were seriously good,” said Jones, whose first England squad, announced this week, contained seven uncapped players.

“You wouldn’t want to put a new batsmen against those four quicks on a fast pitch like Perth. Murrayfield will be a tough game.”

Just as happened four years ago, England have responded to a disappointing World Cup campaign by sacking their coach and leaving the new man with a potentially tricky Calcutta Cup clash in Edinburgh as his first match.

But that is where the similarities between Jones, the first foreigner to coach England, and predecessor Stuart Lancaster end.

Jones is an established international coach — he was in charge of the Australia side beaten by England in the 2003 World Cup final and guided Japan to a shock win over South Africa at last year’s edition.

By contrast, the England role was Lancaster’s first major appointment. And while he got the job after a World Cup where England lost in the quarter-finals, his team could not even reach the knockout phase.

England beat Scotland in 2012 but the Scots now look to be a much better team, only a late penalty call denying them a World Cup quarter-final win over eventual runners-up Australia.

Lancaster’s reign was bedevilled by questions over whether Chris Robshaw, his choice as England captain, was playing in the correct position at openside flanker and an inability to field a settled centre partnership — he got through 15 combinations.

But Steve Borthwick, Jones’s assistant coach, having played under him at Saracens and then been a member of his Japan backroom staff, said the team could expect “absolute clarity” from their new boss.

With Robshaw, still in the England squad but starring as a blindside flanker for Harlequins this season, the contenders to fill his England No 7 shirt include James Haskell, Matt Kvesic and Jack Clifford.

Asked what he wanted from his openside, Jones said: “A seven’s primary job is to ensure that on your ball you get quick ball on that first ruck.”

“Then the really good sevens like (David) Pocock, (Richie) McCaw, (George) Smith and (Sam) Kane see other opportunities to slow ball down.

“We have to pick a bloke who at the moment who can do that primary job of first phase work.”

As for midfield, where powerhouse centre Manu Tuilagi’s lack of fitness is causing Jones a headache just as it did Lancaster, he added: “A 12’s (inside centre’s) primary job is to straighten the attack; it was 30 years ago and it still is now.

“The 13 is like your backs version of a No 8 who can do a bit of everything…We’ve got two guys with exceptional feet in (Jonathan) Joseph and (Elliot) Daly, and they’re not bad readers of the game.

“Obviously Manu would be a key player for us at 12, but we’ve got to deal with what we can deal with now.”

Renowned for his gruelling training sessions, Jones warned his new players: “It’s going to take more than what they have ever done in their lives to create a wining England team, that’s the reality of it. Because otherwise it would have happened by now.

“It’s the old definition of insanity — someone expecting people to do the same thing over and over again hoping to get different results.

“It doesn’t happen. If we do the same as what we have done since 2003 then we will get the same results.”