England vs Tonga team news: Who should Eddie Jones pick for Rugby World Cup opener?

We attempt to pick the side that should launch England’s latest bid to win the Rugy World Cup

Jack de Menezes

Sapporo

Wednesday 18 September 2019 10:02

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England train in Japan ahead of the Rugby World Cup

England face one of their biggest dilemmas at this year’s Rugby World Cup in choosing their selection not just for the opening match against Tonga, but also for who will play against the United States just four days later.

The schedule this year has been adjusted in an attempt to bring a better balance to the time between games for tier one and tier two sides, having been heavily weighted in favour of the former.

As a result, England will play their opening matches in Japan in the space of four days – something they have never done at the World Cup – which will require a selection process of something akin to what is used on the British and Irish Lions tour.

The likelihood is that Eddie Jones and his coaching team will sit down on Thursday and pencil in the matchday 23s for both games together, although the side to face the USA will depend heavily on how the England squad emerge from what could be a bone-crunching encounter with Tonga on Sunday.

Even though England have 31 players to choose from, at least one will be needed to double-up and start both games, given both Mako Vunipola and Jack Nowell have been ruled out of the tournament until the third pool match against Argentina at the very least.

Taking that into account, it’s certain that both Joe Marler and Ellis Genge – the two remaining loosehead options – will need to play in both matches, while Nowell’s absence means the back-three will be light on rotation for the second match.

With all that in mind, we’ve attempted to pick the side England boss Jones should select on Friday morning for their opening fixture of the Rugby World Cup.

Click through the gallery below to see who we’ve selected.

England vs Tonga predicted team

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1/24England vs Tonga predicted team

Who should Eddie Jones select in his opening squad for the Rugby World Cup?

Reuters

With Vunipola absent, Jones would be wise to go with experience and Marler’s XX caps bring just that. The Harlequins prop looked to have no chance of featuring at the World Cup when he retired last season, but could end up being the first name on the teamsheet in the opening match of the campaign.

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The expectation is that Jones will go fully loaded for the opening game and then look to rest his best players where possible, given it will give them just under two weeks to prepare for their Argentina test. George is certainly one of those, and with two other hookers in the squad in Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jack Singleton, Jones can afford to give George a good hit-out before standing him down for the week.

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This selection doesn’t seem to be too much of an issue, given that Kyle Sinckler will bring form, power and pace to the pack if selected against Tonga while Dan Cole has a vast amount of experience at World Cups to deal with the job at hand. However, given the physicality of the Pacific Islanders, it might be sensible to deploy Sinckler first to give Tonga a few problems of their own.

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Now we start to get to the tricky positions. If Mark Wilson fails to get through full training as he manages a knee injury, then he cannot realistically be considered for the opening fixture. That could then leave England in a bit of a whole, and as a result, we’re selecting Itoje to play just 40 minutes. Jones could then send on Courtney Lawes for the second 40, with both slated to start against the USA.

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Joining Itoje in the second row is his Saracens colleague George Kruis. The lock has enjoyed a wonderful return to form over the last year and his lineout expertise could prove a handy tool against Tonga, whose set-piece could prove a weakness.

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The absence of Wilson, if he fails to recover, leaves Jones with a tricky situation. He could start the inexperienced Lewis Ludlam on the blindside, deploy Courtney Lawes there, or choose to go with his double-openside tactic of Tom Curry and Sam Underhill. It’s the latter that we’re going for, as Curry fills the No 6 shirt having impressed in the World Cup warm-up games.

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Underhill takes the No 7 shirt to provide England with that double-edge at the breakdown. If England can disrupt Tongan possession and slow them down at the ruck, it negates a lot of their best qualities. Both Curry and Underhill would then be stood down for the second match, allowing Lawes to start at 6 and Ludlam to start on the openside.

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It looks guaranteed that Vunipola will start against the country of his heritage with Wilson struggling, and as Jones has said over the last few weeks, the best way to get him at his best is to get the No 8 playing minutes. That could potentially see Vunipola double up and face the USA too, but it’s hoped that Wilson will be back in time to start.

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Youngs remains the first-choice scrum-half for now and should get the nod to start the campaign unless Willi Heinz has done enough in training to oust him from the shirt.

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England are keen to stay away from the brutality that will be thrown their way from the Tonga defence, and as such it looks like George Ford will start alongside Owen Farrell to ensure the ball is moved around to the outside backs. Ford impressed in playing every game of the warm-up series, and deserves to start the opening match on merit alone.

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Just wind him up and let him go. May’s in the form of his life, and will start in Japan as their first-choice wing.

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Farrell captains the team from the No 12 shirt – which he returned to for the record victory over Ireland last month – in order to add that creativity to the midfield. Farrell is big enough to bring the physicality needed in an inside centre, but it’s the ability to move the ball outside him that will be the most important quality needed.

Action Images via Reuters

It seems the smartest thing to do in selecting Tuilagi to fight power with power against Tonga, and then wrap him up in cotton wool for the Argentina game. With Henry Slade short on minutes after a knee injury ruled him out of the warm-up games, and Jonathan Joseph down the pecking order, Tuilagi could cause havoc in the opening game – but he is needed for much later in the tournament and a 50-minute hit-out before giving Slade minutes looks the best option.

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This is where the back-line selection gets tricky. With Nowell injured, England will have to reply on Elliot Daly and Anthony Watson looking after the No 15 shirt. However, Joe Cokanasiga is another who has struggled with a knee injury this week, and you wouldn’t want to expose Ruaridh McConnochie to the Tongans in his first fully competitive international Test. As a result, Watson will be needed to start on the wing.

Action Images via Reuters

Daly could be another player forced to double-up, as you would rather push the new Saracens addition to go back-to-back rather than Watson, given the latter’s recent injury problems. Daly has proven he has that in him before, having played back-to-back between on the Lions tour ahead of the first Test, and with Nowell returning later in the tournament, Daly could be rested in one of the latter pool games.

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Seems to be the natural understudy to George given that Jack Singleton is yet to play any minutes at hooker.

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Could play a pivotal role in this World Cup off the bench as he did against Italy, with his injection of power likely to sap the energy reserves of the Tongan pack.

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A wise-old head to bring on in the closing stages.

EPA

The Wasps lock will cover the second row, but with one eye on him starting against the USA, his minutes should be limited.

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Can come on for Itoje at half-time or soon after in order to allow both to go again on Thursday.

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Provides cover for Youngs but should get enough minutes under his belt to push his claims for a starting spot later in the tournament to keep Youngs on his toes.

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Provides cover for fly-half if the worst happens to Ford and Farrell, but more use as a replacement for Tuilagi and an early introduction would be useful to give him minutes.

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If fit, Cokanasiga takes the final place on the bench as he can bring a second-half impact on the wing and Watson can cover full-back should anything happen to Daly. However, his fitness is under a big question mark, and should he fail to recover from the knee injury he’s been struggling with, McConnochie will get the nod.

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England will announce their squad on Friday at 1:15pm local time [5:15am BST] for the game to face Tonga.

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