Eddie Jones has the brains to look beyond the brawn

Hugh Vyvyan reckons Eddie Jones‘ international nous makes it virtually impossible for him to fail as England head coach given the depth of talent at his disposal.
Saracens club legend Vyvyan was a playing lieutenant of Jones’ during the Australian’s stint in charge there in 2008-9 and believes the “intense” former Japan boss is far better suited to the international game than the frenetic world of club rugby.
Offering a revealing insight of how Jones will operate, Vyvyan told The Rugby Paper: “Eddie’s going to be incredibly well organised, very structured and he’s an intelligent man with a fantastic rugby brain who appreciates equally intelligent rugby players.
“He’s got a fantastic track record in international rugby, is a very confident guy and he’ll know exactly where he wants to take the England team and what he must do to achieve that.
“He will already know in his head what he wants to do and which coaches and players he wants to work with, because he’s that kind of organised, hard-working guy.
Vyvyan added: “Eddie’s perfectly suited to international rugby. He’s pretty intense, so that shorter burst of Test rugby probably fits him better, as opposed to being at a club, and you’ve only got to see what he’s done with Australia, South Africa and Japan… his record is phenomenal.
“In international rugby he seems to get the best out of players and, let’s be honest, there are some incredibly talented young players in England, so I think he’s walking into a job which is set up for him to be incredibly successful.
“Anyone coming into this England job would have a good chance of being successful because of the talent coming through the system.”
Vyvyan believes Jones’ arrival will spell good news for bright, footballing talents like George Ford, Henry Slade, Elliot Daly, Jack Clifford, Maro Itoje, Jonathan Joseph and Alex Goode, who was introduced into the Saracens 1st XV by Jones in 2008.
“He likes intelligent rugby players – and what I mean by that is it’s not always about brute and brawn with Eddie,” Vyvyan explained.
“For example, Michael Owen wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea as a rugby player at Saracens but he had an incredible rugby brain and was very skilful, so Eddie really liked him at No.8.
“Eddie likes rugby players that understand the game and if you look at someone like Alex Goode, who’s a very intelligent rugby player, he will go for people like that. He’ll already know a lot about the players he wants to work with.”
Stuart Lancaster‘s loss will be Jones’ gain according to Vyvyan, who is sad the deposed England boss will not be around to see the fruits of his labour.
Vyvyan added: “I think Stuart Lancaster has done an incredible job and Eddie Jones will keep all the good bits from Stuart – the culture, the Englishness – and add to it.
“It’s a shame Stuart hasn’t still got a place in the RFU because he has done a lot of good things, but what Eddie brings is that bit of extra experience, a slightly different mindset and authority. He’ll demand high standards and I wish him well.”
NEALE HARVEY