England coach Eddie Jones is taking inspiration from the Navy SEALs team that took down Osama bin Laden in order to teach his side adaptability ahead of next year’s World Cup.
England will stage a ‘hell week’ on the island of Jersey in preparation for the Autumn Internationals and Jones used the operation that killed the former terrorist leader as a metaphor for what his team had to do.
“You know the Osama thing, they practised that whole project for 12 months for 38 minutes of work,” said the coach after attending meetings with SEALs in San Diego, California.
“And the first thing they did was wrong. The helicopter hit the wall [of the Bin Laden compound]. They had 12 months to prepare, went through it religiously and they still got something wrong, but then they were able to cope with it and get it done within 38 minutes.
“You look at the analogy between us now. Twelve months to the World Cup, we’re playing for a game that’s got 35 minutes of ball in play, so the ability to dress-rehearse, prepare the players for what’s coming up, whether it’s the first round, second round, third round, whatever it is, that is the opportunity going forward. Exciting isn’t it?”
Jones’ emphasis on adaptability was, he said, a result of the ‘uncontrollable’ aspects of the modern game.
“We need to be able to adapt to a different game,” he said. “Probably 25 per cent of the game now is uncontrollable, through sin-bins, HIAs (head injury assessments) and uneven numbers in the game.
“The match then becomes completely different. We need to be able to adapt from our game to the game that’s going to be played in that time. That’s hard to do and I can’t name one team who can do it at the moment.
“We basically can’t get messages on the field anymore so the players have become even more important in terms of decision-making.”
Worcester Warriors have been suspended from all RFU competitions after missing a deadline set by the governing body regarding insurance cover and player wages.
The club is now in administration with debts of $41m, the biggest slice of which is owed to the British tax authorities.
Club staff were told to collect their belongings from the club’s Sixways Stadium with no date for a return. Players, including former Western Force lock Fergus Lee-Warner, are also in limbo.
Lee-Warner only joined as recently as April and has played all three games for Worcester in the 2022/23 Premiership, but his future is now up in the air.
Worcester are not the only club struggling. Wasps, one of the most storied names in English club rugby union, are also set to go into administration with major debts to the UK taxpayer. They have 20 days to find £2m (3.3m AUD) to avoid a winding up order over unpaid tax.
Two All Black legends have thrown their weight behind Jordie Barrett’s move to the 12 jumper, with Sir John Kirwan saying the utility was “on fire’ in the position.
“Yes, he should be our 12 moving forward,” said Kirwan, a veteran of 63 Tests for the ABs, on Sky NZ’s The Breakdown.
“You should play him there on the northern tour, because if Richie Mo’unga is going to stay at 10 and Beaudy (Barrett) at fullback, I think Richie would love to have someone like Jordie outside him, so he can do a bit of dancing, but if it’s not on he can unload it to Jordie.”
He was backed up by Mils Muliaina, who added that the success of Barrett’s move in the recent Bledisloe Cup win was “going to give Ian Foster a big headache”.
“I would [pick him at 12],” said Muliaina. “He hasn’t shied away from it. I think now you’ve got a complete package in terms of the second five role. He kicks, his passing ability and those carries, when you need someone just to run it straight. Why not?”
Last week’s demolition at the hands of the All Blacks was another nightmare night at Eden Park for Australia, the Wallabies’ 23rd consecutive defeat at the fortress of Kiwi rugby union.
The silver lining is that, for next year’s Bledisloe Cup, they won’t have to play there. The FIFA Women’s World Cup is set to use the stadium in the same time period and thus, the New Zealand leg has been moved to Dunedin.
That’s the good news: the bad news is that the Wallabies haven’t won in Dunedin since 2001 either.
The Australian leg is set for the MCG after Suncorp Stadium and the new Sydney Football Stadium were also taken offline by the women’s football tournament, but no venue is yet decided for the Wallabies’ clash with Argentina.
“We’ve got limited availability in Australia as well,” said Rugby Australia CEO Andy Marinos.
“We will play our Bledisloe at the MCG and we’re just working through the venues around NSW for the Argentinian Test.”
USrugger
Roar Rookie
Yes. This sounds so familiar. And how did that end? If I recall correctly, not too well. Smacks of desperation to moi.
Tim J
Roar Rookie
:thumbup:
WEST
Roar Guru
Apparently he’s been spotted hanging around the HQ. Old Stephen Donald was talking about it a few days ago.. Guess we’ll see :happy:
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
They have JIFF players who must have come through the French system meaning that more young players will be recruited at 18 rather than 21 or 23. These JIFF players must make up 70% of a squad and matchday 23. If they don't they don't get funding from the FFR. The other 30% are generally made up of KOLPAK or EU citizens. There are normally about 3-4 other players. If each of the club's in URC, Prem, T14 and ProD2 have one Oz and one NZ player who can't get a EU+ (PI, SA or EU/UK) passport there would be 59 players from each country. Players like Aki (Samoa) and Hansen (Irish) would not be included as they are EU+ players. That would be nearly 2 SR squads each. Add in that the SA wage cap could go up by $100-250k a year as URC/club income goes up then players in SR with any EU+ become better value.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
I wish the wallabies had Eddie!
Tim J
Roar Rookie
Thanks for that WEST, I was unaware of that. It certainly will be interesting to see what comes out of it, if it is about a new contract then Robertson will have conditions that he wants.
WEST
Roar Guru
See old Scott Razor Robinson has been seen having meetings at NZRU? Something going on? :shocked: new contract..
CUW
Roar Rookie
England's gallagher teams have suffered during corona lockdown and their incomes came down a lot in fact this season the salary cap was lowered by about GBP 1 mio ( i m sure an english fan can give actual amounts ) not forgetting the countrys economy is also down - GBP is trading at its lowest vs USD these days after long time. many of Gallagher clubs were running highly leveraged - very few had backing like Sarries or Chiefs. most clubs get into trouble when they cant match the expenditure on the roster.
CUW
Roar Rookie
EJ is notorios for getting players injured in his so called HEll Trainings !!! the clubs were up in arms against him in the past - coz they lose out when players are injured for no good reason. there was one famos case of a guy who got injured wrestling with a pro.
CUW
Roar Rookie
@ Carlos the Argie perhaps he is implying training hard to play rugger - rather than undergoing the SEAL training it self. the pass rate for SEALs is around 55% i heard - my friend underwent the training for international forces ( not the US SEAL course ) and they had a misfortune of one guy drowning in a wild river crossing :shocked: as for the big story - the Black Hawk crash is on the air force - SEALs dont pilot choppers !!!
ScottD
Roar Guru
Agreed although I seem to remember reading that France is serious about limiting overseas player numbers?
jeznez
Roar Guru
Panasonic offered to pay out Tupou’s contract but RA refused. Could help a bit but the biggest is letting the best go and then making sure we can get them back for Tests. Not this pop in for a few games and skip others situation we have now. Big challenge when you aren’t the primary employer
BulletMwaza
Guest
I feel like I've seen this particular tale before. Oh wait... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamp_Staaldraad Hoping for a better outcome, 20 years later?
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Putting the final touches to an article on how transfer fees can be brought in by Super Rugby teams putting buyout clauses into their contracts. Bulls got about €300k for Nykane because he got brought out of his contract
Englishbob
Guest
That was it. How are you feeling pre EOYT Biltong? What would you be happy with/expect? Some strange selections recently by JN
Two Cents
Guest
Well, if it works...
Two Cents
Guest
Since Jones is an Aussie, are we absolutely sure he isn't just trying to pull a fast one? I could totally imagine that he is trying to convince everyone with the big announcement that he's got some "wunderplan" up his sleeve so that every other team will overwork their charges between now and the cup and when we all get there, we'll be too exhausted that none of us will be able to bring the intensity required to win and he gets to take home the big prize.
jeznez
Roar Guru
G’day NH. Appreciate your insights on the state of the code up north. Don’t think anything you’ve said negates my key point, which I’ll paraphrase: Very important that RA stops putting itself into debt trying to retain players. The national union needs to ensure they survive rather than trying to compete with NH clubs
Rusty
Roar Guru
the only staal in the draad was due to the freezing water and lack of clothing
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
The RFU just changed the rules where a team going up needs to have 5k which Ealing have and need to have 10k by the following season, which Ealing were planning to do. If the PRL or RFU want a 14 team league then they will change the rules accordingly. TV deals want a certain number of games and teams want a certain number of home games. Lat season Tigers lowest attendance was 17k, Bristol was 16k. Home fans go to see the home team. With the lower wage cap squads were trimmed so plenty players around to fill up the squads.