Six Nations: Drones, Pep Guardiola and “a bit of mongrel” – How Eddie Jones has helped England keep their edge after two years in charge
England’s trip to Murrayfield this weekend marks an unofficial anniversary of Eddie Jones’ tenure as head coach. Away to Scotland marked his first game in charge and kickstarted a remarkable run of 24 wins from his first 25 games in charge. Here are some of the innovations the Australian has used to keep the Red Rose ahead of the pack.
Embracing technology
Jones’s willingness to try out new technologies will be evidenced this Saturday on his substitutes’ bench where replacements will be wearing heated trousers. Used by Great Britain’s all-conquering cycling team, the trousers are designed to generate the ideal temperatures to prime muscles for peak performance so players won’t need an opening ruck or scrum to warm up. High-budget drone camera operators have also been deployed to gain a better view of tactical training sessions.
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Tactical periodisation
Think back to some of England’s more notable wins under Jones and you’ll notice a common theme — the result being secured late on thanks to a second wind surge provided by “finishers” from the bench. “That’s not by coincidence,” says the Australian who has borrowed the “tactical periodisation” training methodology from football — sworn to by Jose Mourinho — to prepare England physically for the clutch moments in a game. In essence, it means combining fitness and tactical drills undertaken at an extreme intensity in order to replicate game scenarios. Other training innovations have included the introduction of eyesight specialist Dr. Sherylle Calder to the fold as visual awareness coach.
Learning from other sports
Eddie Jones in conversation with former England manager Roy Hodgson (Source: Getty)
Tactical periodisation and hot trousers are from the only concepts Jones has taken from other sports. There are unlikely to be many better connected coaches out there, such is the sheer number of contemporaries Jones has consulted for their expertise. From football, Antonio Conte, Pep Guardiola, Arsene Wenger and Gareth Southgate have all met with Jones. The Australian used some time off in the summer of 2016 to shadow Australian Tour de France team ORICA GreenEDGE in order to pick up rapid recovery and logistical operations tips. After seeing Great Britain women’s hockey head coach Danny Kerry steer his side to Olympic gold, Jones was quick to pick his brains for tips. Meanwhile defence coach Paul Gustard has been dispatched to learn techniques from mixed martial arts.
Read more: England rugby head coach Eddie Jones joins Goldman Sachs board in Japan
Revamping the culture
“A bit of mongrel”: Jones favourites Brown (l) and Hartley (r) are both combative figures on the field (Source: Getty)
Jones is not skeptical about the importance of culture on a team, but he has made significant adjustments to the well-publicised attempts to bind his side to a patriotic higher purpose. In Japan, Jones diagnosed a contentment with effort regardless of results. In England, it was almost the other way around — the players were frozen by fear of failure. So humility was swapped for “a bit of mongrel” as the defining character of the side. Inspirational slogans were stripped from the walls of England’s training ground and Lancaster’s tradition of having the team walk through the car park surrounded by fans at Twickenham was scrapped.