Moody: It is an 'exciting period of time' for England

English rugby is going through an “exciting period of time”, says former captain and World Cup winner Lewis Moody.

Head Coach Eddie Jones replaced former boss Stuart Lancaster in November after England were knocked out at the group stages of their home World Cup, but the Australian has already delivered success after clinching the Six Nations Grand Slam just four months into the job.

Moody told TRU: “I loved the way Eddie Jones picked his squad. He picked teams to do a job on the day and the consistency in performances impressed me.”

A 31-21 win over France in Paris two weeks ago saw England seal the Grand Slam for the first time in 13 years.

“If you go back to that very first match against Scotland, he didn’t blood those new guys in straight away that people wanted to see get game time,” added Moody.

“He didn’t change the side very much at all from what it had been like at the World Cup and he just relied on those experienced guys to come and deliver a win which they did.

“Instead, he drip fed the new and exciting players into the side such as the sensational Maro Itoje, Jamie George and Elliot Daly and we saw the rewards for that.

“Now he has a nucleus to build around and it is quite an exciting period of time for English rugby leading up to the tour of Australia because the list of players he could choose from is becoming endless!”

It was clear that Jones immediately put his stamp on England when the EPS side was announced before the Six Nations and that mix of experience and exciting youth was the perfect blend for success, but Moody feels that England’s recent achievements haven’t all been down to the former Japan coach.

“I think you do have to give Stuart Lancaster his credit,” said Moody. He built a side which allowed players to gain experience and I think Eddie Jones is now reaping the rewards from that.

“As a coach, Martin Johnson also played his part when you look at the likes of Dan Cole, Ben Youngs, Danny Care, Mike Brown etc. who he all gave chances too. With Lancaster and Johnson’s work, that has helped create a Grand Slam winning team and now Jones can now start to create something great in the coming years.”

So after Grand Slam success, England’s next task is a tour of Australia. They head to the Southern Hemisphere in the summer, facing the Wallabies on 11 June in Brisbane, 18 June in Melbourne and 25 June in Sydney.

Jones was coach of Australia when Moody and England beat the Wallabies in the World Cup Final in 2003 and the former England international believes his country have a great chance of doing something special this summer.

“England have only ever won three times in Australia in their history so it is great chance to go and do something special against a very good Australian side.

“They were in the World Cup final only five months ago, but now we have a very exciting England side.

“As long as we get the base of the side that played in the Six Nations, mixed in with some new and exciting young players and those like Henry Slade and Jonny May coming back from injury, then we will see where England really are when they come up against one of the best sides in the world.”

Lewis Moody was speaking to TRU’s Max Skofic as part of the NatWest RugbyForce project. Moody is an ambassador for the initiative and he is putting his time forward to help grassroots clubs bring in new players as well as make them more sustainable.

Moody said: “For me, even though the World Cup was a disappointment from England’s point of view, in terms of the rugby we saw, it broadened everyone’s horizons to help develop rugby going forward.

“Certainly my local rugby club, Bradford on Avon, saw a massive upturn in terms of numbers. People were coming up to the club to watch the games and now it is really important to keep that positive momentum going  and NatWest Rugby Force is a really good way of doing it.”

Lewis Moody is a NatWest RugbyForce 2016 Legend, bringing his playing and business experience to help grassroots clubs attract members and become more sustainable. To register for a chance to have Lewis join your rugby club’s board visit www.englandrugby.com/natwestrugbyforce