Jones insists Ireland are favourites for Six Nations showdown in England

Eddie Jones has billed Ireland as favourites for Saturday’s Six Nations showdown at Twickenham, pointing to how they are the most “cohesive” team in the world and highlighting how England’s player release agreement differs from their rivals.

England go into the match third in the table, a point and a place behind Ireland. Defeat would all but end their hopes of topping the pile, with a final-round trip to Paris to come. England have selection headaches with Alex Dombrandt testing positive for Covid-19 last week and not due to train before Thursday and though Sam Underhill is back in the squad, Jones said he was “a little bit off his best”. Tom Curry was, however, able to train on Monday after he was replaced at half-time against Wales with a head injury.

Before last year’s 32-18 loss in Dublin, England had beaten Ireland in four consecutive matches, including two thumping wins in 2019, but Jones highlighted their autumn campaign, in which the All Blacks were emphatically beaten, as a demonstration of their progress. Jones also made mention of how Ireland reap the benefits of having just four provinces to pick from in a system in which the union enjoys far greater autonomy over the domestic sides compared with England.

Specifically, Jones believes Ireland’s system is the reason why Johnny Sexton is still their first-choice fly-half at 36 and to further illustrate his point, Leinster have provided at least 10 of Andy Farrell’s starting XV in each of their three matches so far. He also made a pointed reference to the access he gets to his players compared with other nations and while Jones believes that disadvantage is diminished during a World Cup campaign, he claims it puts Farrell’s side in the box seat this weekend.

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