England Ahead of ‘Le Crunch’ – A week of hard work
Eddie Jones made three changes to his starting XV for Le Crunch
©PA
For this weekend’s ‘Le Crunch’, Eddie Jones has made three changes to the starting XV that faltered against Wales.
Two of those adjustments come in the pack, the first being at hooker where Saracens' Jamie George exchanges places with Exeter Chiefs' Luke Cowan-Dickie.
In the second-row, Cowan-Dickie’s club teammate Jonny Hill drops to the bench, too, with Bath’s Charlie Ewels coming into partner Maro Itoje.
The final of the three alterations is at full-back, with Elliot Daly swapping the 15 shirt with Max Malins. On loan from Saracens to Bristol Bears, Malins’ performances have grown week on week since getting regular game time in the West Country.
After experiencing several long-term injuries, the 24-year-old has slowly begun to realise the potential that was expected of him as a youngster.
Watching Malins progress has been his home-club teammate and England captain, Owen Farrell: “Obviously, Max has been on an upwards curve in terms of his performances and playing more regularly. At the club (Saracens), he was obviously still learning and showing some real bits of brilliance.
“He has gone to Bristol in a year that has been brilliant for him and has gone through the roof in terms of having some regular game time and showing how good he is consistently. That is great to see from any young player getting that chance and taking it.
“Max is, I’d say, a dangerous full-back. He makes things happen, he beats people, he is quick and he is strong and he has got great instinct about the game and that’s a brilliant quality to have.”
France have made four changes to the side that played Ireland nearly a month ago, with various injuries and the return of Virimi Vakatawa forcing Les Bleus into some alterations as they return to Six Nations action.
As for England, they have had to dwell on their last performance for the past two weeks, the 40-24 loss in Cardiff weighing heavy on many minds during this time.
“I think when you are not going through a good run, when the good teams go through this like we are, it is never the lack of effort, it is handling the disappointment of the game,” Eddie Jones said in his press conference.
“That’s the most important thing and we have tried to create training sessions this week to replicate what might be termed as ‘a disappointment’ in the game, to make sure that we don’t lose our focus.
“Because what happened when you are not at your best, that is when you get those disappointing moments in the game. All the other ideas start flooding into your head instead of getting back to what is important.
“So, we’ve, particularly this week, tried to create sessions that illicit that response and tried to expose those players so they can practice that a little bit more.”
As part of this adapted training schedule, Jones drafted in referees Wayne Barnes and Matthew Carley to help his side get a better grasp of what officials are looking for in games.
This came following England's issues with Pascal Gauzere in Cardiff, with Wales' first two tries arguably coming due to poor communication with the officiating team on the day.
Barnes and Carley will have undoubtedly helped England this week and it should hopefully contribute to an improved performance.
Giving away 14 penalties last time out, England blindside flanker and workhorse Mark Wilson says the experience has been hugely beneficial to the playing group.
“Even before we spoke to Wayne, our biggest thing was to try and eradicate the avoidable penalties that have happened in previous games,” Wilson said. “We are fully aware of that and we have been working hard on that this week.
“That’s the thing because we still want to play with intensity and we want to play right up there. Sometimes things aren’t going to go your way, but what we can be in control of is those avoidable ones where people are being desperate or doing something where they feel like they need to make a difference, so we worked really hard on that and the lads are very aware.”
