Eddie Jones has revealed that some of England’s British & Irish Lions may be left out of the summer tour of South Africa after a worst Six Nations finish since it started in 2000.
England have now lost three consecutive matches and were warned last week by the Wales head coach, Warren Gatland, that the run could become six “pretty quickly” with a 3-0 series defeat by the Springboks. Following the defeat by Ireland on Saturday, England’s World Cup-winning coach, Sir Clive Woodward, also turned up the heat and claimed Jones’s side were now “staring down the barrel”.
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Woodward highlighted how tired England’s Lions have looked in recent weeks – against Ireland 10 of the starting XV had toured New Zealand last summer with a further three on the bench. “As the England coach I did not like the Lions one bit,” he told BBC Sportsweek. “You do have a bad year [afterwards], the stats will say that.”
Jones said he was relishing the three-Test series against South Africa but admitted significant changes to his squad are likely, with a number of underperforming players facing the axe, and a proportion of his 15 Lions could be rested. “We still have to look at how we look after the Lions players,” he said. “That’s still a concern for us. We will do that, and that was always in the plans. We’ll just see if there are any players who will benefit more from not going on the tour. It’s going to be fantastic for us and [South Africa] are going to be a rejuvenated team. I’ll go back to watching club games and the Under-20s and see how we can strengthen the squad.”
Anthony Watson may be an enforced absentee in South Africa after Jones revealed his achilles injury, sustained on Saturday, is “not good”, while James Haskell, who made his first England start in 12 months against Ireland, conceded that he expects a new-look squad for the June tour. “I think any expectation of being involved is a foolhardy one,” he said. “You can only just apply yourself, leave nothing out there and the rest will take care of itself. I think there will be changes, of course there will be – some forced, some merited.”
Ireland had eight Lions in their squad on Saturday but Joe Schmidt enjoys far greater control over his players and how much game time they have at their clubs. Owen Farrell has played 1,084 minutes for Saracens this season, whereas Johnny Sexton has had 434 at Leinster.
Woodward said: “It was one of the reasons I left the job and fell out with the RFU. As head coach you have to have more control over your players. I just thought [England] looked a very tired team throughout the championship. [They] are staring down the barrel at the moment and they have to get this team really sorted out. The world of rugby has really made a step and England have been coasting for 12 months.”
Jones, meanwhile, reiterated his belief that England will bounce back and warned against writing off his side’s World Cup hopes in Japan next year. He did, however, highlight a lack of leaders within his squad as a source of frustration.
“Some people are born leaders and others aren’t,” he said. “The ones who aren’t take a bit of time. That’s a big area for us guys to get right, and it does take time. We need more guys like Owen Farrell and to do that you need more time to develop. And when you are developing people who aren’t Owen Farrell and you are asking them to do other things, sometimes the weight of those things affects their performance in a negative way.”