Eddie Jones has enlisted the help of management consultants with the aim of making his England senior players the “best leadership team in the world”.
The England head coach has taken the radical step of picking three vice-captains in the side to face Tonga tomorrow, with support for Owen Farrell, the captain, coming from Tom Curry, Ellis Genge and Courtney Lawes. Maro Itoje, widely considered to be a future England leader, has not been included among the vice-captains.
The team’s leaders have held the first of a series of meetings with representatives of Deloitte, the management services company. “We’ve got a couple of people internally that are consultants to the team and we’re using Deloitte for some leadership programme work,” Jones said yesterday. “We’re looking to give them the necessary support to be the best leadership team in the world.”
Farrell will start at fly half at Twickenham tomorrow, as Jones’s plan to play him at inside centre with Marcus Smith at No 10 has been thwarted by a leg injury to the gifted Harlequins playmaker that has limited his training time this week. The 22-year-old has been tipped to be the face of the rejuvenated team Jones is developing but he will start on the bench tomorrow.
“When you don’t train, it’s hard to run the team around the paddock,” Jones said. “He hasn’t been able to train, but we do believe he’s fit. He did some light training today and we anticipate he’s going to be able to train fully tomorrow. We decided to start with Owen and Marcus will finish for us.”
Advertisement
Further disruption to England’s preparations came when an unnamed member of Jones’s backroom staff tested positive for Covid-19. Training was delayed and, although the rest of the management and playing squad returned negative lateral flow tests, there was an anxious wait last night until the results of PCR tests were received this morning.
For all the talk of a fresh start, much of the team to face Tonga carries a familiar look. Of the 15 starting players, only three — Freddie Steward, the Leicester Tigers full back, Adam Radwan, the Newcastle Falcons wing and Jonny Hill, the Exeter Chiefs lock — were not in the 2019 World Cup squad.
Ellis Genge has been chosen to start at loose-head prop ahead of Joe Marler, while Tom Curry, a flanker by preference, will play at No 8, packing down between Courtney Lawes and Sam Underhill in the back row. Farrell’s shift to fly half means a return at inside centre for Manu Tuilagi — his first international for 20 months, having missed most of last season through injury. Tuilagi will partner Henry Slade in the centre, with Jonny May joining Steward and Radwan in the back three.
Farrell, who will win his 94th cap, returns to his preferred position of fly half, where he has started only four of his past 16 games for England.
“I’m a fly half, with the ability to play No 12,” he said. “I’ve said over the years that even when I have 12 on my back it’s not like I change completely as a player. At fly half, you get the ball in your hands and you get probably more touches.”
Advertisement
With a new leadership group around him, Farrell, 30, also feels that he has improved as a captain. “The main thing is that you’re genuine and authentic,” he said. “Sometimes you think too much about how you can be better and stop being yourself. I feel comfortable in being myself now.”
England v Tonga
Tomorrow, 3.15pm
Twickenham Stadium
TV: Amazon Prime
