Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje 'hated' being dropped for Argentina clash, says England head coach Eddie Jones

The pair will play no part in the first autumn international amid concerns about their fitness

Eddie Jones is pleased with the pair's reaction to his decision (Getty)

Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje “hated” being dropped from the England squad that will face Argentina this Saturday, with Eddie Jones revealing that it was not an easy task to tell the Saracens pair that they will be rested.

Both Farrell and Itoje will remain with the England camp this weekend and travel to Twickenham with the rest of the squad, but they will play no part in the first autumn international after Jones identified an issue with their fitness levels.

Farrell played all 240 minutes against the All Blacks during the British and Irish Lions tour this summer, while Itoje featured for all but 47 minutes of the three-test series, and both were called back into action for Saracens with Itoje playing in the first match of the season.

After labelling their schedule “exceptional”, Jones revealed that he used the training camp in Portugal last week to assess where his Lions players were in terms of fitness, and identified Farrell and Itoje as two who were some way short of their usual levels.

“It was all about how the players came into camp,” Jones said. “What we thought they needed. What is going to be best for them in terms of development and the team’s development. So, we’ve taken the decision to play most of the Lions guys but Maro and Owen won’t play.

“We’ve been tracking them through the season, got some parameters on where they were at and then saw them in Portugal and made some decisions. And that’s ongoing.

“Look at the workload they’ve had. They’ve had exceptional workloads. They’ve played all three tests, played consistently for their clubs, played consistently for us and we feel it’s in their best interests to do some conditioning work.”

Itoje has already been rested once this season, having missed Saracens’ victory over London Irish last month, while Farrell was eased into the campaign after missing the opening weekend win over Northampton Saints. Their absence eases Jones’ selection dilemmas though, with Itoje’s allowing Courtney Lawes and George Kruis to start together in the second-row. Joe Launchbury will be among the replacements, while Exeter Chiefs back Henry Slade will win just his eight cap at inside centre in place of Farrell.

If making the decisions was the easy part for Jones because of this, telling them was much harder.

Farrell played every minute of the Lions's three tests (Getty)

“They hate it, which is a great reaction. They hate it because they want to play every test,” Jones added. “They love playing for England. They are proud of playing for England and they want to be part of a winning team. They don’t like it. So, we have got to convince them, not just me but the rest of the staff that it is in their best interests for this period of time. Then for next week we will try to work out what is in their best interests.

“At the end of the day not everyone is on the same level and at the end of the day they have got to understand I run the team. I make the decisions. And I make those decisions in the best interests of the team and for the individual.”

The head coach was forced into another change on Thursday hours after naming his side when Sale Sharks flanker Tom Curry injured his wrist, which needed a hospital scan and ruled him out of winning a second cap this weekend. His place among the replacements is taken by Sam Simmonds, the uncapped Exeter back-row who is one of the form players in the Premiership this season, and although Simmonds is almost certain to get onto the pitch at Twickenham, Jones still does not know where his best position is – likening him Chris Robshaw and his role of a “six-and-a-half” flanker.

Simmonds could well join his Exeter team-mates Slade and replacement prop Harry Williams on the pitch in what would be the first time that three players from the reigning Premiership champions have represented England at the same time, and and attentions are likely to be on Slade given he is replacing one of Jones’ most important players in Farrell.

“We know we’ve got Owen who can play at 12, we know we’ve got Ben Te’o who can play at 12. We need 3 choices,” Jones explained. “We don’t have 3 choices. This is Sladey’s opportunity to show he can be a third choice at 12, or one of the choices at 12.”

But chances have been hard to come by for Slade, who has only made seven appearances for his country despite making his debut before the 2015 Rugby World Cup. One of those reasons has been due to the consistency of Farrell and the danger of outside centre Jonathan Joseph, but Slade has also caught Jones’ eye and despite the slow start to his international career, he finally gets his chance to show what he can do.

“I remember seeing this kid who had feet, he had nice balance and he had speed,” said Jones. “Then I didn’t see him again. I thought he’d been taken somewhere! Then I came here and watched him play for Exeter and he was okay, but you could still see he had something about him.

“It’s taken him some time. Sometimes those really talented kids don’t understand how you have to work hard, to change that talent into consistent performance. He’s really learned that. He is diligent about doing the small things right and his determination to get better has been outstanding.

“Just for instance, one of the most important stats we collect is on high-speed running. Imagine we kick the ball and you have to sprint after that ball, then the ball goes back over your head and you’ve got to spring back. He was the lowest in our team 12 months ago. On Tuesday when we trained he was the highest, and that just comes down to effort, application and doing the small things.

“When you are a superstar young player, you tend to do the big things well but you don’t do the small things well because you’ve got other people to do the small things. So he has learned that he has to do the small things well and he’s done that brilliantly.

“He’s got nice balance, he’s got good feet and he’s got good anticipation; he sees what is coming. He’s got a reasonable core (skills) set; he’s got a good left-foot kick, and his passing and catching is pretty good.”

Slade’s inclusion gives England a different dimension in their back line, as while he can play the Farrell role to take the pressure off fly-half George Ford, he offers a more attacking threat with the ball in hand. Saturday will be his third outing against Argentina in five months, and if he can deliver the performance that Jones believes he has inside him, he could well force himself into the England midfield debate.