Eddie Jones says selecting players based in France would transform Steve Borthwick’s England squad from “B-plus to A-star”.
England face the Springboks in Saturday’s Nations Championship clash at Ellis Park without a host of experienced stars who are ineligible for selection because they don’t play their club rugby in the country.
Jones believes the current policy is holding England back.
“England face the biggest test in rugby on Saturday. Ellis Park, against a Springbok side carrying the best win record the game has ever seen. And they go into it knackered, with a squad that needs depth more than it needs anything else,” Jones told Planet Rugby.
“England are not short of back-row riches. Far from it. But can they afford to ignore what sits overseas, not only in the back row but outside?
“Put David Ribbans, Kyle Sinckler, Joe Marchant, Lewis Ludlam, Jack Willis and Tom Willis into that squad and it goes up a whole new level.
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“As a Test coach you learn one thing very quickly. It is rare that you ever get to pick your best 15, let alone your best 23. Maybe at the start of a World Cup, if you are lucky.
“Bluntly, you spend your life managing injuries, managing unavailabilities, and picking a side a long way short of your optimal one.
“South Africa and France have shown where the modern game has gone. Depth wins. This is a sport about 40 top-quality players now, and the inclusion of the French-based lads would lift England from a B-plus to an A-star.
“It might cost the head coach his job to say it, but the argument for exemption is enormous.”
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Jones believes the Boks have benefited enormously from allowing their leading players to ply their trade abroad.
“South Africa, the great disruptors, have not followed the herd. They broke the mould. Their players go overseas, come back, and educate the group, and the conveyor belt keeps turning.”
Photo: Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
The post Eddie: England need Bok model appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Eddie Jones says selecting players based in France would transform Steve Borthwick’s England squad from “B-plus to A-star”.
The post Eddie: England need Bok model appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
