Argentina defeat clouds Jones's selection philosophy against Japan

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Argentina defeat clouds Jones's selection philosophy against Japan

Eddie Jones is under mounting pressure
Eddie Jones is under mounting pressureProfimedia
With New Zealand and South Africa waiting in the wings, England's game against Japan this Saturday was set to be the fixture where Eddie Jones could experiment - but after Sunday's defeat by Argentina, he now has a selection dilemma.

Does the coach give some test match time to the many members of his squad who are so desperately short of it, or does he stick with the bulk of his first-choice team and bench in a bid to find the "cohesion" that was so sorely missing in Sunday's 30-29 defeat?

Jones said afterwards that there was nothing structurally wrong with England's performance in a game where they had almost 70% possession, but that they allowed the Pumas to stay in the game due to a succession of individual mistakes and bad decisions.

While true, that analysis also glosses over England's failure to build any sort of sustained backline attacking momentum as the Marcus Smith-Owen Farrell 10/12 combination again failed to spark, even with the presence of Manu Tuilagi outside them for the first time.

Many fans were bemused by Jones's selection of Ben Youngs to start at scrumhalf. With Youngs having now played 118 times for England, the coach knows all there is to know about him, yet Jack van Poortvliet, who sparked England's turnaround in the summer tour of Australia when he replaced Youngs, was relegated to the bench.

The fact that Van Poortvliet showed the speed of thought and deed to dart from a ruck to score England's second try less than a minute after joining the fray merely underlined the strangeness of the decision, but England fans have long given up trying to understand their coach's selection policy.

Jones will surely make some changes but he will also have a very strong memory of what happened last time England played Japan in 2018 when he took the opportunity to tinker.

A wretched first-half display saw an experimental lineup concede eight penalties and trail 15-10 and though, buoyed by the introduction of some established names from the bench they surged back to win 35-15, the game marked the end of the road for a number of fringe players.

It also reminded Jones, not that he needed it, of the influence of Farrell as his second-half display at inside centre transformed England, not least in attitude.

Four years on Farrell remains central to Jones's thinking, though the coach must surely be wondering whether to stick or twist with his twin playmaker option as Smith struggles to impose himself on games and Farrell's role is diminished at centre in a way that was never as marked when he dovetailed with George Ford.

And Jones, of all people, knows not to underestimate Japan. They might not be at the levels of 2015 when he led them to their famous World Cup victory over South Africa, or the 2019 World Cup when they produced one of the all-time great performances to destroy Scotland. But they pushed New Zealand hard when losing 38-31 two weeks ago in Tokyo and remain a dangerous side.

England have lost five of their nine games this year and another against Japan - who, like Argentina, they face in the World Cup next year - would be unthinkable.

Though they would celebrate any sort of victory over the All Blacks the following week, supporters will expect more against Japan.

Twickenham was quiet against Argentina, particularly in a dull first half, and for that symbiotic fan-team relationship to spark, the players at least need to look like they are trying to come up with some attacking ideas.

Maro Itoje said on Monday that the players had taken too long to "flick the switch into 'England mode'. It can take a week or two to get going but we need to get going from the off," he said.

"No one’s going to be calling people out. It's just being honest with each other about where we were good, where we were bad and where we need to improve."

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