WINDS OF WAR
Rugby World Cup: Typhoon could be calm before storm for England as Jones left with unanswered questions in squad
EDDIE JONES thanked the typhoon gods for their heavenly work in giving England the weekend off.
But Typhoon Hagibis also leaves the England boss with plenty of devilishly awkward problems.
3
3
Having two weeks to get ready for a likely quarter-final and rugby’s version of the Ashes is seen by Jones as a huge positive.
Though their cancelled clash against France robbed him of a chance to try to play skipper Owen Farrell back into form.
And England’s stiffs in particular will have gone 3½ weeks without a minute of Test rugby — their last action coming in a 45-7 thrashing of USA in Kobe.
The opportunity to re-run Mark Wilson at no.8 and find a more permanent contingency should first-choice Billy Vunipola have any setbacks after his ankle injury against Argentina has also gone.
Finishing top of Pool C also puts England on a collision course with favourites New Zealand in the semi-finals.
Though first there is the smaller matter of those pesky Wallabies, though, Jones’ old side who he has hammered six times out of six with England, but who also killed their 2015 World Cup hopes.
For now, the ex Aussie boss is happy with what he has got.
But hey, no wonder he is, it’s now just three wins needed for a World Cup title.
And Jones said: “Who would have thought we would have two relatively easy games, one tough game and then two weeks to prepare for a quarter-final.
MUST FIVE FIVE PER CENT MORE
"Someone is smiling on us - the typhoon Gods maybe?
“We have a fairly exceptional record in two-week preparations we are batting at around 95 per cent and so we have to find 5 per cent from somewhere.”
Like the 160mph storm, everything that caused England to flee Tokyo and escape to Miyazaki happened in rapid fashion.
At 11pm on Wednesday night they got the tip-off that their clash at Yokohama Stadium was a massive doubt.
By the time Jones had been up and gone to the gym for his daily work-out, operations manager Charlotte Gibbons had been told by Japan 2019 chiefs that ‘Le Crunch’ was crushed.
Not wanting to tell his player straight away, Jones left it until around 10am at a team walk-through to break the news.
They were then supposed to switch Tokyo hotels and move from bustling Shinjuku to the more sedate Conrad Hotel in Shinbashi - giving them an easier route south into Yokohama.
3
Today they should have been training at the stadium just outside of Tokyo.
Instead, England have a recovery day at their Miyazaki base before launching into a brutal squad training session tomorrow.
Looking back at the 48 hours of chaos, Jones said: “There was obviously rumours flying throughout the day, which I’m sure you all heard.
“We got a reasonable idea on Wednesday night that it was probably going to be cancelled.
"Now it is a great opportunity for us to regenerate, refocus, put a bit more petrol in the tank, so we’re really happy with it.
“The players are disappointed mate, as you would expect. They’ll get over it, as soon as they get some Miyazaki beef on them they’ll be all right.
“We’ll have a good hit out Saturday, have some beef Saturday night, a few beers, and get ready for the week ahead.
"We can do a lot of different things mate - we are excited, absolutely excited, it’s a great opportunity.”
Any more typhoons landing will seriously throw the tournament’s integrity into question - even if World Rugby can move and re-schedule knock-out matches.
But Jones also knows there is no thing they can do, having experienced the violent storms in the Far East since he first came here in 1995.
Asked about the worst typhoon he had been involved in, Jones recalled one freak weather bomb 23 years ago when he was assistant boss of Japan.
The half-Japanese boss added: “I’ve probably been here for about 30 typhoons.
“I can remember driving once in one of the first typhoons, and you know those convenience stores everywhere, the 7/11s?
"The 7/11 sign flew off and just landed in front of the car.
most read in rugby union
“At one stage I was looking pretty dodgy if it had kept coming.
"It was in Tokyo, September 1996 and I was driving to the ceremony for the first game of the season, I can remember it clearly.
“So there’s a reason why when typhoons come everything shuts down.
"Because it can be particularly dangerous and this one’s supposed to be a big typhoon, so I don’t see any other option that the organisers had.
“That’s why we’re not concerned at all about the comings and goings of it, we think it’s the right decision.”
Topics