Martin Johnson facing his first real test
Eddie Jones, the former Australia coach, says that the new manager will have to ensure his team hit the ground running
Whoever wins at Twickenham on Saturday, England or Australia, these teams will present the strongest challenge to South Africa and New Zealand at the next World Cup, according to Eddie Jones. ?Saturday will tell us a lot more about where they are in their development,? Jones, who has a foot in both camps, said.
The former Australia coach has, in fact, a foot in many camps. A renowned workaholic, the Saracens director of rugby was in Japan last week to work with the Suntory club, with whom he has longstanding connections, and will renew his partnership with Jake White next month to coach the Barbarians against Australia at Wembley.
Jones was the tactical analyst to the South Africa side coached by White when they won the Webb Ellis Cup 13 months ago. He also coached the last Australia side to reach a World Cup final, that of 2003, when England won in extra time in Sydney. Now Jones and his family are based near London and the Guinness Premiership club for whom he works boast the England captain, Steve Borthwick, which leaves Jones more fascinated than normal about the outcome at Twickenham.
Such is the talent and organisation available to his own country and his adopted country, Jones predicts that both are capable of success in New Zealand in 2011. But he remains wide-eyed that England have given such instant preferment to Martin Johnson, the team manager. ?An appointment like that would never happen in Australia,? he said, knowing that because Australia, with a small playing population, must maximise their resources to the utmost, they could not afford to place in overall control of the national squad an individual with neither coaching nor managerial qualifications.
This is not necessarily a poke at Johnson's tough hide (along the lines recommended last week by Sir Clive Woodward, Jones's old adversary, who believes that Johnson should join in the verbal warfare that distinguished so much of his own reign as England head coach), even if it could be taken as such. He is genuinely intrigued to see how Johnson's presence will influence both England's play and the overall standards that have slipped so badly since Woodward resigned in 2004.
?The big question for England is what they will do off their own ball,? Jones said. ?We have seen how London Irish under Brian Smith [the England attack coach] play off the other side's mistakes and we saw some of that from England against the Pacific Islanders last weekend, like the quick tap from their own 22 which resulted in a try.
?But do they want to create line breaks in a way we haven't seen from England since 2003? That will be a test of Martin as a manager, how he makes sure England play the game best suited to the players they have. It's hard to make bold statements after only one game, but Martin is very good at man-management, at understanding people, and he will cut his playing style according to his cloth.?
Jones, though, pinpoints the breakdown as the area where the game will be won and lost. In George Smith, he believes, Australia have the world's outstanding open-side flanker. ?I think he's better than [Richie] McCaw at the moment :thumb and if England do give the ball air, the breakdown will be the most important area of the game,? he said. ?If the referee [Marius Jonker, of South Africa] keeps people on their feet, there will be a lot more contests and if that's the case, Australia could dominate and perhaps score the one try, from turnover ball, that could make the difference. I don't think there will be many points in the game, defences on both sides are strong, but turnover ball will be decisive.
?Australia have, in effect, gone for two No 7s in Smith and Richard Brown, who is an open-side turned into a No 8. They will target the breakdown and England are nowhere near Smith's level yet. Tom Rees is a pretty good player but he's right at the start of his career, as is Tom Croft, who's not great at the tackle area.?
Jones sees strong elements of the pattern adopted by Crusaders, the dominant team of Super 14 rugby, coming into Australia's play now that Robbie Deans has moved from the Canterbury-based franchise in New Zealand to coach the Wallabies. ?Australia are kicking a lot more out of their own half, but once they get into England's third of the pitch, they will really go for you,? he said.
He acknowledges that England possess a ?handy? back three, although he reserves judgment until they have played a better unit than the Pacific Islanders. The possibilities of Danny Care and Danny Cipriani at half back attract him, although he queries whether the combination of Cipriani and Riki Flutey at Nos 10 and 12 will prove successful in terms of game management at the highest level.
There is a word, too, for Borthwick, who joined Saracens from Bath during the summer. ?He was captain of a strong team with established leaders and we are still building the same culture at Sarries that Bath have had,? Jones said. ?But Steve has been instrumental in taking that forward, he's strong, dedicated, serious about rugby. I thought he did pretty well against the Islanders and it'll be exciting to see how England respond to him in a more demanding environment.?
