Rugby World Cup 2019: Jamie George hopes cricketing glory and Australian infused culture can inspire England

The hooker has become an emblem of England’s transformation under Eddie Jones over the past four years

It may take the most vivid of imaginations, but it is not inconceivable that England could end 2019 with two of the three big World Cups in their possession. Following the spectacular Cricket World Cup victory for Eoin Morgan’s side - and the eye-catching yet ultimately disappointing Women’s World Cup campaign - the rugby union side have the chance to end the year with what would be the biggest sporting triumph of the year.

And even taking into account yesterday’s Ashes First Test defeat, it is the parallels between the men’s cricket and rugby teams over the last four years that could really make this a year to remember.

The culmination of four years of rebuilding proved to be the Cricket World Cup trophy for Morgan, Trevor Bayliss and the rest of England’s cricketing heroes this summer, but that all started by stripping back the flesh of the 2015 World Cup embarrassment and working out what went so wrong in failing to make it out of the group stage.

But if their World Cup failure was embarrassing, the rugby side’s was all the more spectacular. While the world’s best cricket teams were gathered on the other side of the world in the Antipodes, the rugby side were blowing their home tournament, following suit and crashing out at the group stage via a painful defeat by Wales.

Again, the RFU asked what went wrong, and part of the solution was very similar to the ECB’s: bring in an Australian coach and let the players start to take on responsibility. The product has been success for both sides and the belief that “team culture” is at the forefront of those revivals.

So it was not surprise to see the England rugby squad sat together to watch and celebrate their cricket counterparts’ triumph at Lord’s last month. “We were lucky that Eddie is a cricket fan so he pushed a meeting back as it went into the Super Over,” revealed England hooker Jamie George, a self-confessed cricket lover. “I don’t know if jealous is the word. I am quite lucky that I know a couple of the guys involved in the team and I was just so so happy for them.

“What that England cricket team has done over the last four years has been incredible and there were a lot of parallels between us and them. I spoke to a few of their guys about it before. We have been through very similar challenges. To see them come out the other side and be crowned world champions is fully deserved and I’m very proud of them doing that.”

There are close ties between the two teams beyond the Australian coaches, with Elliot Daly playing alongside Jason Rou at Surrey early in their careers and George himself rooming with England batsman Sam Billings at Haileybury - bagging himself a charity match appearance at the Home of Cricket long before his international rugby career took off.

Eddie Jones has transformed the culture within the England camp since taking over in 2015 (Getty)

“I know Eoin Morgan through Saracens and Jason Roy through my mate Sam Billings,” added George. “[Morgan] is a Sarries fan so I have met him quite a few times through Saracens. I know him through that and I was at Lord’s watching him play, sent him a text and he was around for a beer afterwards.”

Through these links, it is easy to see why the teams have been able to progress along the same recovery paths, as George explained.

“You can see the parallels in how they had some pretty disappointing campaigns, some tough losses. Very much like us. There are not direct parallels in terms of the way the game is played but in the team culture and the rest of it. That’s something Eoin Morgan is very keen on talking about so I have chatted about that with him before.

“He is a very impressive bloke and I have learnt a huge amount from him in terms of what he has done with the England cricket team.”

The hooker practices his lineout throwing technique at England's training camp in Treviso (Getty)

Thankfully for sport enthusiasts such as George, the final day of the fifth Ashes Test will end four days before the start of the Rugby World Cup, when it will start to become clear over the course of the next six weeks whether George and co. can follow in their mates’ footsteps.

There are four Quilter Internationals before then for England to finalise their preparations, starting with a double-header against Wales home and away before matches at Twickenham and St James’s Park in Newcastle with Ireland and Italy. For George, these games represent something quite special, given it’s where this England journey started four years ago

Having proven himself at Saracens alongside John Smit and Schalk Brits, George found himself with the chance to prove he should be in the 2015 World Cup squad at the expense of Dylan Hartley, Tom Youngs or Rob Webber. In the end, Hartley’s ban for headbutting George ironically secured the latter’s place in Stuart Lancaster’s squad but, in the four years since, the Saracens hooker has not just guaranteed himself of a place in the final 31-man squad fitness-dependent, but as potentially the best player in the world in his position.

England have been put through an intensive training programme ahead of their warm-up against Wales (Getty)

“It’s amazing,” George recalled. “My first cap in the pre-world cup games last time around seems a long time ago. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be involved in English rugby. There’s a huge excitement and belief amongst the group that we can really do something special. I can’t wait to get going with the games.

“We have not looked too much at Wales yet. I am not entirely sure how much we are going to look at them to be honest. World Cup pre-season type games are always interesting ones but it is coming just around the corner now and that is obviously exciting.”

But warm-up match or not, George expects the same old intensity between the two fierce rivals.

“Whenever England play Wales it is going to have an edge to it. At the end of the day it is a Test match, playing them home and away and they are both amazing opportunities to put our best foot forward and potentially right a few wrongs from that game in the Six Nations.”