Eddie Jones takes a leaf out of English cricket thanks to Ed Smith to regenerate his Rugby World Cup plans

England rugby head coach has used his time stranded in Japan during lockdown to tap into the mind of ECB national selector Ed Smith and adopt some of the methods that carried them to World Cup glory

Football has been back long enough that the 2019/20 season is almost complete. Cricket is also up and running, while golf, tennis and boxing are also staging professional events. And yet, still rugby union waits for its chance.

With rugby in the UK forced to wait another month before it can resume, plans are starting to be put in place in regards to how next season will fit together. For England boss Eddie Jones, it has ripped up his four-year plan to turn the Rugby World Cup finalists into world champions.

The Australian’s first World Cup cycle saw him spend two years trying to stabilise and rebuild England’s confidence, before finally piecing together a squad that could go and compete with the likes of New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland. This time around England have all the confidence they need, but in contrast to the four years that he had before Japan 2019, Jones is no longer blessed with time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Having spent the last four months in Japan with his wife’s family, Jones has been stranded further away than most from the players he enjoys coaching so much.

“It’s been difficult,” Jones said, having finally made it back to the UK. “Had some bad days, had some good days. Started playing and coaching myself at tennis. Don’t think I’ve got much of a future as a tennis coach.”

With Japanese rugby in a similar situation after the season was put on hold, Jones has had to find ways to fill his time. The best way to do this, he found, is with something that became a key feature of his England tenure. The 60-year-old is as experienced as they come within rugby union, but he has never shied away from tapping into the leading brains from other sports when the opportunity has presented itself. He has spent time with Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte and Sir Alex Ferguson in football, while plenty of rugby league and Australian rules coaches have been in and around the England squad.

With endless amounts of time on his hands, Jones decided to make the most of his contacts. Gareth Southgate, Dave Brailsford, Justin Langer and Danny Kerry to name but a few. But there was one who stood out in the form of the ECB’s national selector Ed Smith.

“I find him a very bright intuitive guy,” Jones said. “He’s got a bit of a different look on how to do things and we’re doing a couple of things that they aren’t.

“There’s basically three ways you can pick a player: on video, you can pick a player from watching them, and then there’s a raft of evidence that can range from physiological issues to human issues, psychological issues. So you piece that all together to get the best picture for selection and everyone has a different way of putting the pie together, and it was just interesting to speak to Ed about how they were putting together the pie for English cricket.”

Jones has returned from Japan after spending lockdown in Tokyo (Reuters)

The summer has not got off to the best of starts for English cricket after defeat by the West Indies in last week’s first Test and Jofra Archer’s rather embarrassing ‘bio-bubble’ breach before the second, though the fact the summer is taking place at all is an achievement in itself.

But what England have done is look to blood a new breed of player with a nod to the future. Stuart Broad was left out of last week’s Test for the first time when fit since 2012 on home soil, while the one-day squad shows seven new faces who have never represented their country. Having won the World Cup themselves last year, England are already building for the next one, and it’s something that Jones has accepted he will have to do as well.

“I think you can see that they’re building the team for the next generation now just in the way that they’ve selected, and that’s going to be something that we’re going to have to come to grips with,” he added.

“That’s going to be part of the job over the next period of time. The nucleus is from the squad from the last World Cup but there will need to be a regeneration of the squad because the aging process is part of something that we all have to deal with.”

Jones has picked the brains of the ECB’s national selector Ed Smith (Getty)

England reached the 2019 Rugby World Cup final with the youngest squad to achieve such a feat, but there were a few faces in the mix who may find themselves at risk of being a victim of regeneration. George Kruis is on his way to Japan, while 99-cap Ben Youngs will be attempting to make a fourth straight World Cup if he can make it to 2023.

But before he can do that, Jones will have to regain his understanding of what condition his players are in – something that will change considerably between now and when he likely gets hold of them in October due to the Premiership’s condensed schedule.

“It looks pretty busy, I think I’ll be on the road for the next four or five weeks mate!” he mused.

“Some players will find it great, and some players will find it hard to handle. Like any time we get a national team we’ll just have to make an assessment of where the players are at – who needs a rest, who needs to play and work out each player individually.

“That’s not something I control, but I know the clubs will look after their players well. Every coach wants to win but a big part of winning is looking after the welfare of your players, and I am sure the clubs will do that.

George Kruis is one of those who will drop out of the squad (AFP via Getty) (AFP via Getty Images)

“Because of the lockdown situation, we’ve probably had more access to the players than we normally have – because they’ve had so much spare time. I’ve kept in contact with them generally every week up until the last couple of weeks. I’ve tried to make contact with each player to see how they’re going, more from a personal point of view than a coaching point of view because there’s nothing to be coached.

“Our S&C staff have had permission from the clubs to do one session per week with the players, just to see where they are. That’s just got them breathing hard and having a bit of fun. There’s a league table at the end of it.

“We had a hook-up one night with most sports in the world, talking about how players are coming back from lockdown. Every sport except one said all their players had come back in far better condition because they had all this time to look after their physical fitness – but general fitness, not specific fitness, because you can’t do that. In most sports around the world, there’s a good level of general fitness, then you have to translate that.”

With England set to face the Barbarians this October before completing their 2020 Six Nations campaign against Italy as well as whatever autumn programme is agreed, Jones will have plenty of time to begin that regeneration process, meaning that while the rest of the world does its very best to get back to normal, England’s head coach will once again be shaking things up.