For better or worse, Eddie Jones is sticking with his ‘new’ England

All coaches insist they never read the newspapers until the day comes when they wish to send a specific message. Thus it is that Eddie Jones spent a large chunk of his pre-Six Nations address insisting Scotland are the nailed-on favourites who will have to cope with the pressure of their lofty status. Say it often enough and maybe a few seeds of doubt can be quietly sown.

The flip side, of course, is what that implies about his own team and a tournament buildup which has been on the grisly side of horrible. No Owen Farrell, Courtney Lawes or Manu Tuilagi. Ditto Jonny May, Sam Underhill, Jonny Hill, the Vunipola brothers, Joe Launchbury and Anthony Watson. A forced evacuation from the team hotel last week because of a fire nearby. A starting winger who has been training in isolation at home this week. Small wonder Jones is trying to shift people’s gaze elsewhere, even publicly suggesting Scotland are “probably two years ahead of us in terms of their development.”

Er, what does that say about England’s strategic thinking since spring 2020? In fairness to Jones, he has made the best of a tricky selectorial hand in this instance. Tom Curry’s elevation to the captaincy at just 23 years old, making him the youngest England skipper since Will Carling in 1988, has been a popular move in the team room, while in several other positions the head coach has opted for the slightly bolder of the available options.

It would have been easy, particularly with a foul weather forecast, to have stitched together a more orthodox combination. Instead, for better or worse, he has clung to the theme of a “new” England who, regardless of the odds, are not going to die wondering. A revved-up back row of Curry, Lewis Ludlam and Sam Simmonds will