Eddie Jones is set to name a 35-man squad for England’s autumn training camp in Bristol starting on Sunday. Among those hoping to be involved are Sale’s Chris Ashton, who is suspended, and the uncapped Saracens flanker Michael Rhodes, with Leicester’s fit‑again Manu Tuilagi also awaiting the announcement with interest.
Jones’s main priority is to introduce the squad to their new defence coach, John Mitchell, and focus on the team’s first game of the November series, against South Africa. He will not finalise his preferred autumn squad until 18 October but several individuals will be keen to give the reshuffled management team an early nudge.
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Ashton has yet to feature in the Premiership after being banned for seven weeks following a red card for a tip tackle in a pre-season fixture against Castres. Jones, though, was impressed with the 31-year-old’s efforts at England’s previous gathering last month and it will be surprising if the wing is not a part of the Bristol camp.
Jones is also a known admirer of the hard-tackling Rhodes, raised in South Africa but now qualified for England via residency. With exactly 12 months to go until the 2019 Rugby World Cup starts, time is running out if Jones wishes to integrate players capable of making a significant impact in Japan.
The England management would also love to see a fully fit Tuilagi back involved. Leicester’s acting head coach, Geordan Murphy, said on Wednesday that he has had no conversations with Jones about the 27-year-old, who has not started a Test for England since 2014, and has only discussed other players with England’s assistant coach Steve Borthwick.
“I have not spoken to Eddie at all and I haven’t spoken to Steve about Manu specifically,” Murphy said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. If he gets selected then hopefully he gives a good account of himself. If he doesn’t then he’s a quality player who is hopefully on that path.”
Wasps’ Joe Launchbury will attend the camp but is not due to take an active role in training.
Johan Ackermann has backed the appointment of John Mitchell as England’s defence coach and believes the New Zealander will get the best out of every player in the squad. Gloucester’s director of rugby worked with Mitchell with the Lions in South Africa before taking over from him as head coach in 2013.
“I was one of John’s visa referees and he has already been on the phone talking about having a catch-up,” Ackermann said. “He will add a lot to England. He has been brought in as defence coach but I am sure he will take in other areas like the breakdown and attack, because he has a wide range of skills. He will make a difference for England. He is passionate about the game and, like Eddie Jones, he is big on discipline. With all the skills he has, he will get the best out of every player. I think it is a great appointment.”
Leicester’s interim head coach Geordan Murphy believes the row surrounding his lock Will Spencer’s red card against Wasps could be “a watershed moment” for rugby. Murphy also says he now regrets suggesting the sport has become “too PC” and the Tigers are unlikely to appeal against Spencer’s four-week ban.
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Having reflected on the high tackle which led to Spencer’s dismissal, Murphy accepts he should not have criticised the decision. “It’s really disappointing for me that in heat of the moment and as a young coach with no experience of that situation I shot my mouth a little bit when I needed to sit back and absorb a few things,” he said. “I felt afterwards that my comments may have belittled the laws and that wasn’t my intention.”
Murphy also feels that Spencer’s contentious hit on Tommy Taylor on Sunday has helped to crystallise the debate over player safety in the modern game. “I think it’s going to be influential across the world of rugby,” he said
“People are going to talk about it and hopefully we can make it a safer game. We could cry and moan about it but that doesn’t help us in any way. We accept the decision. For me as a coach, we’ve talked about it already and we’ll work on the training paddock about improving our standards.
“The bodies who make these decisions are not changing rules for the sake of changing rules, they are doing it for player safety. We all have to accept that. Rugby has changed, for the better. There are people trying to look after the players and trying to care for them. Their safety is paramount. I didn’t want to create the furore I did with my comments [but] it’s really frustrating in a really tight battle when you go down to 14 men. Hopefully we can now see that consistency across the board in all Premiership matches.
Urging all Leicester’s players to try and tackle lower in future, however, will not instantly eradicate head injuries in professional rugby, with clumsy collisions always an occupational hazard. “None of the players on the field felt there was an issue,”added Murphy. “When you slow down the footage then by the letter of the law it is a red card. But it is a really difficult one….it is a matter of inches. People say that we have got to teach players to tackle lower and I’ll have to take that on board. But we want to be tough and we want to be competitive. The nature of the game is that it is a combative sport.”