Eddie Jones makes five changes to England for Japan Test
Eddie Jones has dropped Joe Cokanasiga and Jack Willis from his England squad entirely
©PA
With Japan coming to Twickenham Stadium on Saturday afternoon, England head coach Eddie Jones has made five changes to the starting side that lost to Argentina last weekend.
David Ribbans, who was an unused replacement last Sunday, replaces his club teammate Alex Coles at lock, Sam Simmonds starts at No. 8 over Billy Vunipola, Jack van Poortvliet gets a start at scrum-half over Ben Youngs, Manu Tuilagi drops to the bench in favour of Guy Porter and Joe Cokanasiga is dropped entirely from the squad in favour of Jonny May who has recovered from a dislocated elbow much quicker than initially feared.
On the bench there is only one significant change, as 69-cap hooker Jamie George comes in for Jack Singleton on the bench, while Jones reverts to a 5-3 split of forwards and backs on the bench with Jack Willis the player sacrificed.
“Look, he’s a good player mate, a very good player,” Jones said. “But it’s hard to be on the bench as just a seven, and we felt Curry had a productive game last week.
“So, to take him off wasn’t really the best option for us, and to play Jack at six compromises our lineout significantly. So, at this stage that’s difficult for us.”
While dropped from the starting line-up, each of Alex Coles, Billy Vunipola, Ben Youngs and Manu Tuilagi will offer their support as finishers, the rest of the squad the same as the Test against Los Pumas.
Playing for over an hour on Sunday, Tuilagi’s demotion to the bench is a surprising one. That is in no short part thanks to the impact that the Sale Sharks midfielder is capable of having in both attack and defence, Jones saying that the 31-year-old is merely having his workload managed.
“Whenever you’ve got a powerful player with soft tissue injuries, you’ve got to experiment a little bit,” Jones said. “It’s about the right training load, what’s the right kind of training, what’s the right rehabilitation, what’s the right recovery and you can’t go to a textbook and look up chapter one ‘difficult players to manage’.
“There’s no textbook for it, so it’s a matter of experimentation, a matter of cohesion between the staff here and at Sale, the medical staff and strength and conditioning staff and I think that’s been done really well.
“And I think we’ve got him in a good position now, he played 60-odd minutes at the weekend, he trained with us yesterday, he did most of the training.
“And he’s in a really good sport, he looks lean, he looks healthy, and we’ll get a good result off him off the bench.”
Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Kyle Sinckler are the front-row once again, Jonny Hill starts at lock, while Maro Itoje and Tom Youngs complete the pack. Owen Farrell captains the side once more from inside centre and forms an axis with Marcus Smith.
Freddie Steward and Jack Nowell are the final two starts to maintain their places, and like the week before Mako Vunipola, Joe Heyes and Henry Slade will be hoping to have an impact from the bench.
When it comes to the debutant, it almost feels like last week all over again. Last Friday it was Coles getting his debut, a week later the South Africa-born Ribbans the man to get a starting spot at Twickenham and a first cap.
“He’s a good, strong lock,” Jones said. “We were very pleased with Coles last week, but we just feel that for the second Test, it is probably better for him to finish the game rather than starting it.
“Ribbans starts and I’ve been really impressed with his work in the lineout and his work around the ruck. It’s a great opportunity for him.”
In playing Japan, Jones is very much aware of the threat that those in red and white hoops will pose. Having coached the side between 2012 and 2015, leading the team to their famous victory over South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the 62-year-old believes that Jamie Joseph’s side will offer stern opposition this weekend.
“Japan are a good team,” Jones said. “They have the luxury of having long preparations. I’ve been the benefactor of that, so their team cohesion in terms of how they are is probably the highest in the world.
“I think the most cohesive teams in the world in the way they play are Ireland and Japan. They’ve almost got a sixth sense between their players because they practice so much together.
“You have to break that down, break down the cohesion. We’re worried about Japan, but we’re more worried about our own performance. We want to play like England, and we felt that against Argentina that we only touched on that. We want to find the best version of ourselves this week.”
England starting XV: Freddie Steward; Jack Nowell, Guy Porter, Owen Farrell (C), Jonny May; Marcus Smith, Jack van Poortvliet; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Kyle Sinckler, David Ribbans, Jonny Hill, Maro Itoje, Tom Curry, Sam Simmonds
Replacements: Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Joe Heyes, Alex Coles, Billy Vunipola, Ben Youngs, Henry Slade, Manu Tuilagi
