Funny reunion at Twickenham! A man will be the center of all attention this Sunday in the den of English rugby. Eddie Jones, former England coach (2015-2022) whom he led to the World Cup final in 2019 before being disembarked, returns to the suburbs of London to challenge the XV de la Rose with Japan.
And he dreams, obviously, of playing a very naughty trick on her. The England of coach Steve Borthwick, who suffered a fifth successive defeat by losing against the Springboks last week, must imperatively return to victory against the Japanese. This fall, captain Jamie George’s partners are in great pain: they were beaten successively by New Zealand (22-24), England (37-42) and South Africa (20-29).
Proof that he approaches this meeting under pressure with the greatest seriousness, Borthwick was not tempted to experiment and fields a typical XV including the nugget Marcus Smith at the opening.
For their part, the Japanese, who beat Uruguay last weekend in Chambéry (36-20), are suffering against the big teams: they were swept away by New Zealand (64-19) and France ( 52-12) and they had fallen heavily at home (17-52) against these same English in June.
The England-Japan match will kick off this Sunday at 5:10 p.m., a match to follow on BeIN Sports 1.
