Reuters/London


A month after praising the abilities of Steffon Armitage, new England coach Eddie Jones has slammed the door on the flanker’s prospects by backing his new employer’s ban on overseas-based players representing the country.
Hours after his appointment as England’s first foreign coach, Australian Jones held court at Twickenham where his view on the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) much-criticised ban on overseas players was one of the first questions he faced.
“I want players who want to play for England and to do that you have to play in the Premiership. That’s the rule and it’s going to stay that way so I’m happy with what I’ve got,” Jones told a news conference, suppressing something of a wry smile.
When he was reminded of his column during the Rugby World Cup praising Toulon’s Armitage, a former European player of the year, and saying fellow open-side flanker and England captain Chris Robshaw was “not outstanding in any area” Jones was happy to justify his U-turn.
“I wasn’t head coach of England then, I was writing a column. I was probably being a bit naughty,” he said.
“You always have a bit of a view when you’re outside the tent. I’ve had long chats with (RFU CEO) Ian (Ritchie) and I understand the situation.
“I had two stints at Saracens. When you get to the other side of the fence you have a view—and then you think that view is right.
“We have a good relationship with the clubs and we want to make it better. For the national team to do well we need the Premiership clubs to play good rugby.”
Jones said there was a “blank sheet of paper” for his first game, away to Scotland on Feb. 6, and was confident there was more than enough quality available to develop a world-beating side.
“England have won two of the last three Under-20 World Cups so there’s talent out there,” he said. “Of the team from the 2015 World Cup probably 70 percent can go on to 2019 so it’s a great legacy Stuart Lancaster’s left.
“All we’ve got to do is, systematically over the four years, bring young players in, give them enough experience so that when they get to the World Cup in 2019 they’ve got the required amount of experience to be consistent performers.”
One of the criticisms his predecessor Lancaster faced was that he did not seem certain of which approach to take with England, bouncing between a forward-based power game and a more expansive approach, often depending on the opposition.

UNIQUE STYLE
Jones, unsurprisingly, said he would look to take the best of both worlds to develop a style unique to England.
“Teams I’ve coached have had quite good attack,” he said.
“England have always had a strong set piece, good defence and that bulldog spirit and I don’t want to take that away but on its own that’s not enough to win test matches.
“I need to look at the players and work out the way we are going to add the plus to our game.
“It’s a matter of selecting the right players, moulding them into a team, developing the style of that team then being able to change that style when we need to be pragmatic.”