England unconcerned by 'white noise' after difficult week, says George Kruis

George Kruis and Richard Wigglesworth, both named in Eddie Jones' starting XV, have struck composed figures in the build-up to Saturday's game against Ireland

George Kruis in training this week with his England teammates (Getty)

There were two names that stood out most when Eddie Jones named his England side that will tackle Six Nations champions Ireland this weekend: George Kruis and Richard Wigglesworth.

While the decision to drop Dan Cole and George Ford, two stalwarts of the Jones era, stole the headlines, they were the ones that were widely expected in the lead up to the final weekend of the Six Nations. But the omission of Joe Launchbury and Danny Care was not so expected, especially given that the two players that are coming into the side are not exactly of the game-changing material.

That is not a slight on Kruis and Wigglesworth, but they are players who have very much gone down the same path: thinkers of the game, calm heads on experienced shoulders, players who have been there, done that. Wigglesworth may only have 30 Test caps to his name with his last start for England coming 10 years to the day before he was named in this side, but he is one of the most experienced club rugby players in the world and, more importantly, was there in the dark days when England’s post-2003 slump showed no signs of ending.

Kruis, six years Wigglesworth’s junior at 28 years old, is hardly green around the edges. He was a key cog in the 2016 Grand Slam-winning side and runs the lineout like no other. His form has rather deserted him though since embarking on the British and Irish Lions tour last summer, but if England are going to take Ireland on at the set-piece, Kruis will need to be firing on all cylinders and Jones has backed him to do so.

Six weeks ago, the prospect of Wigglesworth and Kruis both starting for England was almost non-existent, and they know it. “I don’t think you could [imagine it],” said Wigglesworth. “You’d probably be lying to yourself if you saw this coming. But I’ve prided myself on not giving up and making sure I always give myself a chance with the way I work and the way I trained.

“I’ve had a lot of belief in myself, and always trying to improve and get better and give yourself a chance. And that chance has come and hopefully take it at the weekend.”

Kruis added: “I'm very happy for what's going to be a massive game on the weekend. We want to fix the last two games. We definitely owe it to the group to leave the shirt in a good place for the summer tour.”

George Kruis is back in the mix for England (Getty)

The second-row was part of the side that suffered a dispiriting defeat in Dublin last year that cost England their own Grand Slam chance. This time around it’s Ireland who have the shot at history, but in those 12 months Kruis has fallen behind Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes and Launchbury in the lock department. With so much on the line on his return to the starting line-up, could the demons of the Aviva Stadium experience come back to haunt him?

“I wouldn't say we're haunted,” said Kruis. “It was a great learning curve for us. We know they're a very good set-piece team. They've got some great athletes and some very experienced ones. We've been training that quite hard this week and it's something we'll be looking to get right this weekend.”

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Jones has tightened the ranks. Kruis and Wigglesworth come in, Owen Farrell moves to fly-half, and suddenly the spine of the team is screaming Saracens with a third of the starting XV hailing from the European champions. Given that the club have forged a path towards success built on the resilience that will be needed on Saturday to stand up in the face of a rampant Ireland side, Wigglesworth knows what he and his teammates must do to end a disappointing championship on a high.

“Resilience comes from sorting everything out and looking at yourself,” he said. “When you don't show resilience is when you bow to outside pressures. You believe in the tough times, not just when it is easy and hopefully we can deliver.”

Wigglesworth offers England years of experience and a calm head under pressure (Getty)

And despite all the distractions that have come this week, Kruis explained why it can become so easy for the players to block out the white noise around them regarding assistant referees, offensive slurs and the possibility of a losing streak.

“This far into the week we’re just focusing on the game. We’ve got a couple of days until a huge game and we’re very much focused on the game,” Kruis said. “We know that when we lose things get stirred up and, if we win or lose, we have to ignore certain factors and you can only deal with the task at hand which is Ireland.”

Luckily for England the noise at Twickenham will be for them, not against them as it was a year ago, and if Kruis can get the lineout firing, the driving maul working and keep Irish paws off the ball, Wigglesworth and Farrell are certainly capable of manufacturing the type of performance needed to upset the champions. But if they fail to do so, that white noise will become a lot harder to ignore, and that’s not something that either will want.