Category: England Rugby

• England face Japan and former head coach on Sunday
• Captain says under-fire Jones ‘did brilliant things’ for side

Jamie George expects England supporters to show Eddie Jones the respect he deserves when he makes his first return to Twickenham as an international coach on Sunday.

Jones, who is now with Japan, won three Six Nations titles as England head coach, including the 2016 grand slam, and guided them to the 2019 World Cup final during his seven-year tenure. He won 59 of his 81 Tests, making him the England coach with the highest winning percentage.

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Eddie Jones’ side present a thankless task but England still have plenty to play for - not least to reboot the regime

Much has happened since England and Eddie Jones last crossed samurai swords in a sweltering Tokyo at the end of June. England have not had another Test match victory in the intervening 155 days and red rose morale has taken a series of hits. Five consecutive losses is in danger of prompting confidence and momentum to drift away among players and fans alike.

Japan, coincidentally, have also endured a lean spell since conceding 52 points to England. Italy and Fiji topped 40 points against them, a reshuffled France side rattled up 52 and New Zealand scored 64 in Yokohama. Last week’s 36-20 win over Uruguay delivered some respite, but Jones’s second coming as Japanese head coach is proving a slow burn.

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After conceding 12 tries in three games, the defence will be under scrutiny and they need to stop the opposition scoring

The message within the England camp should be loud and clear this weekend: we are not conceding any tries against Japan. As much as Eddie Jones will be revelling in coming back to Twickenham, in trying to exploit whatever insecurities England have on the back of five straight defeats, this is not a Japan side that will harbour genuine hopes of an upset. The target for England, then, after an autumn of defensive frailties, should be to tighten up. To make sure that even if the result is not in doubt, they defend their line with all they’ve got.

It can be difficult when the drop-off is so pronounced having faced the back-to-back world champions in South Africa. Japan are historically a side who like to move the ball and I don’t expect that to change but England faced the same team in Tokyo over the summer in their first match of that tour and put 50 points on them despite stifling humidity. More than targeting a similar number of points, or a number of tries, I would challenge England to keep Japan tryless.

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• Tom Curry was stood down for 12 days after Australia loss
• ‘He’s gone through protocols, independent consultations’

The England head coach, Steve ­Borthwick, has defended his ­decision to pick Tom Curry for Sunday’s match against Japan two weeks after he sustained a second head injury inside two months, despite criticism from concussion campaigners.

Curry was knocked ­unconscious during England’s defeat by ­Australia earlier this month after a nasty ­collision with Rob Valetini and ­subjected to the 12-day stand-down period in line with World Rugby’s return-to-play protocols.

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• Forward, 20, likely to start on the bench
• England looking for first win of autumn

The rookie prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour is in line for an England debut against Japan on Sunday, with Steve Borthwick expected to hand the 20-year-old a place on the bench.

Opoku-Fordjour was only called into Borthwick’s squad when Joe Marler announced his international retirement after the defeat by New Zealand earlier this month but caught the eye in last week’s England A victory over Australia at the Stoop. Prior to that match, Borthwick said, “I have been really positive about what I’ve seen from Asher,” and the Guardian understands that Opoku-Fordjour is in the frame for a place among the replacements on Sunday as Eddie Jones locks horns with his former employers at Twickenham for the first time.

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Man who led English rugby’s governing body for 12 years is urging game to ‘wake up’ amid potential record losses

England have had some tough results on the field lately and things are about to get even gloomier off it. Next Monday the Rugby Football Union’s council members will be formally presented with the annual accounts for the 2023-24 financial year amid expectations of potential record losses at what was once the world’s wealthiest union.

Among those awaiting the figures with particular interest is Francis Baron, who spent 12 years as the RFU’s chief executive and was at the helm when England won their first – and only – men’s World Cup in 2003. Since leaving Twickenham, Baron has become increasingly concerned about the state of the union’s finances and is predicting “very bad news for the game” when the figures are unveiled.

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• Curry back after head injury against Australia
• Feyi-Waboso ruled out of clash with Japan

England are making changes to Tom Curry’s all-action technique to ensure his safety after he returned to the fold for Sunday’s clash with Japan following his latest concussion.

Curry sat out last weekend’s defeat by South Africa after sustaining a head injury in a collision with Australia’s Rob Valetini in the previous week’s loss against the Wallabies. The 26-year-old, who missed almost all of last season with a debilitating hip injury that nearly forced him into retirement, has a history of head injuries and sustained a concussion in Sale’s opening match of the season against Harlequins.

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• Centre given international debut by Eddie Jones in 2020
• Australian’s methods have been likened to a ‘dictatorship’

Ollie Lawrence has revealed he ­questioned why Eddie Jones was “on his case so much” when he was the England head coach but has since reached the conclusion the ­Australian’s home truths have been the making of him.

Lawrence won his first cap under Jones – who will face his former employers at Twickenham for the first time on Sunday when England host Japan – in 2020 but failed to make an impact on the international stage despite his fine form for Worcester.

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• Proposal of touring eight-team franchise competition
• RFU would not select any breakaway players for England

Maro Itoje has insisted that playing for England is “the mecca” amid fears Steve Borthwick’s side could be hit by an exodus of stars heading for a global breakaway league.

Itoje said he was unaware of the mooted competition until news of the proposal broke last week but as one of the leading lights for England for the best part of a decade, the 30-year-old would be high on the rebels’ wishlist.

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Defeat at the hands of South Africa was to be expected, but the Six Nations looms as kill or cure for the coach’s project

A little perspective is always useful at times like this. How many people, for example, genuinely expected England to beat the world champions, South Africa, on Saturday? A good side winning an absorbing game of rugby does not necessarily mean the gallant losers are totally hopeless. England’s autumn has certainly been full of drama but is it really a full-blown crisis?

A ‘crisis’, in sporting terms, refers to the indisputable point at which a team start to perform so far below expectations that there is no discernible hope. Yes, a fifth defeat on the trot is uncomfortable for a supposed top-tier nation. Yes, they continue to tail off in the final half-hours of too many big games. A limp finish is increasingly what springs to mind when analysts lie back and think of England.

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• England coach does not believe he will be sacked
• Freddie Stewart says players should shoulder blame

Steve Borthwick has claimed his England players were not fit enough for Test rugby when they began their autumn internationals after Saturday’s defeat by South Africa extended their dismal losing run.

In what could be construed as a tacit admission that Aled Walters’ departure has been keenly felt, Borthwick has risked the ire of Premiership clubs by stating that his players’ “condition” was not “where it needed to be” at the start of the month.

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Steve Borthwick’s team always kick a lot but they must use the ball well to have a chance against these brilliant South Africans

The kicking duel is going to be pivotal at Twickenham on Saturday. South Africa have said they’ve been expecting it all along and it’s what they’re going to get. Over to England – don’t disappoint. It might not be as aesthetically pleasing, maybe the impetus to win becomes greater as a result, but the thinking is obvious if you cast back to last year’s World Cup semi-final.

I understand the selection of Freddie Steward, that Steve Borthwick genuinely believes selecting someone who is 6ft 5in and whose point of difference is his aerial strength gives England the best chance of beating South Africa. I also understand that World Rugby’s clampdown on escorts is increasing the number of contestable kicks and is having an impact on these autumn Tests. I also have a feeling that England are using the latter to almost excuse the former. In the 2023 Six Nations, England averaged 40 kicks again, which was the most of all countries. Earlier this year it was 30, the same as in New Zealand over the summer, but the point here is that England kick a lot and have done for a while. A directive that encourages kicking would appear to suit them yet they seem to be outwardly disappointed about it, perhaps in the knowledge that adopting that sort of style will not be universally well received.

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• Captain backs side to revel in ‘confrontational game’
• ‘Historic rivalry’ continues at Twickenham on Saturday

England are braced for physical ­warfare when they seek to end their losing streak against South Africa on Saturday, according to the ­captain, Jamie George.

Steve Borthwick’s side host the back-to-back world champions at Twickenham having endured a four-game losing streak and have dropped to seventh in the world ­rankings. The Springboks, meanwhile, have returned to the No 1 spot and are heavy favourites to compound ­England’s misery.

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• Plans afoot for global league with eight franchise teams
• But RFU insists anyone who signs up won’t be in Test side

Steve Borthwick’s ailing national side could be decimated by England players signing up to a breakaway global league, with the Rugby Football Union adopting a view that they would be sacrificing their Test careers if they did so.

Plans are afoot for a new league featuring eight franchise teams and about 200 players which would take matches around the world across major cities. Twenty players are said to have signed up in principle for the league, which is believed to be backed by US and Middle East money and due to begin in 2026.

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A World Cup winner in 2023, the loosehead is part of South Africa’s feared ‘Bomb Squad’ and a hero in his home country

Ox Nché is far from the finished article. By his own admission, the Springboks prop has just about mastered the basics. He’s not bad at the flourishing touches but there is a long way to go in his development.In short, he is a work in progress. “I’m learning, actually. I can do just one layer so far,” he admits. “And obviously the icing.”

Nché is, of course, talking about making cakes. The 17-stone loosehead is obsessed with them. His favourite is chocolate caramel, his mantra is that “salads don’t win scrums” and asked the secret to his set-piece prowess he bursts into a bout of his gentle, infectious laughter before shooting back “cake!”.

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