Six Nations: How Joe Cokanasiga learned to cut it with England to stand with the world at his feet

The 21-year-old has emerged as England's Rugby World Cup bolter who could well find himself one of the players to watch in Japan - but it could have been a very different story when he was first called up two years ago

Joe Cokanasiga’s rise on the international stage has been nothing short of unbelievable, not least for the 21-year-old himself. Fewer than two years ago, he was the teenager taken out of the blue to Argentina for a tour that by all accounts he was not ready for.

Eddie Jones thought the same.

“He is a young kid with great potential,” Jones said after watching Cokanasiga turn in a man-of-the-match performance in Saturday’s 57-14 victory over Italy. “We took him to Argentina in 2017 and he couldn’t do a training session. He has worked that hard to get himself right and has some good natural ability and some areas of his game he needs to work really hard on which he is doing.

“He could be one of the best players in the air in the world. Probably Israel Folau is the best and there is no reason why he cannot challenge him in the future.

“He’s just a young guy who’d come out of development teams, based it on natural talent, (but) a number of lingering injuries meant he didn’t do much training. And he had a choice at the end of the tour, he realised what he had to do to be a top-line player. He could have just settled to be a journeyman club man, but he took the first option and he’s worked bloody hard to get fit, he’s worked hard to get his injuries in the right time and now we are seeing his talent come through. But he’s still got a lot of work to do.

“I took him to Argentina because I thought he could play in the World Cup. We’ve had a few of those. It looks like he might be a possibility of doing that.”

Cokanasiga was part of the young experimental squad that Jones took to South America while his key players were on British and Irish Lions duty. England returned with two wins from two in the bag, but Cokanasiga did not see a single second of competitive rugby.

“Coming from the Under-20s where things are not as intense, I came straight from that into the seniors and it was definitely (tougher). Mentally it was a big blow. But I decided to work hard for this and it will come.

“It was because I wasn't used to it before and I was expecting something else. But it's good that you have to work hard because good things come.

“I didn't know what the demands were to play international rugby, I was a bit too immature and complacent with that. Just in meeting the demands of training, I wasn't used to that.”

The hardest times look to be behind him now, although that’s not to say that the path to the Rugby World Cup and beyond is an easy one. The Bath wing must first maintain his place against Scotland this weekend in England’s Six Nations finale, fending off competition from Jack Nowell and Chris Ashton as the pair recover from injury, and remain injury-free between now and the end of the season to book his flight to Japan.

But that chance to stamp his mark on a Rugby World Cup is one that he could barely dream of two years ago. “My whole journey, I still don’t believe what's happened,” he adds. “I haven't had time to get over it.”

Cokanasiga and Tuilagi wreaked havoc on the Italian defence (Getty)

Given the impact that he made against Australia and Japan in the autumn, and the problems that his size, speed and athletic ability posed Italy, it’s becoming increasingly likely that he will be one of the players to watch later this year. His performance on Saturday, in particular the way that he was able to carry the ball in one hand and smash his way through the defensive line.

It resulted in former England head coach Sir Clive Woodward comparing Cokanasiga’s abilities to those of the late All Blacks great Jonah Lomu - and that was only by half-time as he assessed the England international’s performance on ITV - but Jones snapped at the suggestion that the four-cap protégé could be compared to one of the all-time greats.

“That’s ridiculous,” interrupted Jones before the question had even been asked. “That tells you why when you have the television on you should have the commentary down.

“The guy has started two Tests. Lomu almost won a World Cup for New Zealand, changed the way the game’s played. So let’s get serious about it. Can we get serious? We are not engaging in that sort of rubbish conversation.”

Perhaps this was Jones’ way of keeping Cokanasiga’s feet firmly on the ground, but the early signs are that he has a bright future ahead of him. His teammates have evidently seen that side of things, and despite being one of the most inexperienced internationals in the squad alongside the much older scrum-half Dan Robson, he is making quite the impression on the seasoned squad members.

“(He was) unbelievable,” said Manu Tuilagi. “Like I said during the week, if we do our bit on the inside then Joe will get the space and that’s all he needs, a little bit of space. I think Joe’s happy with his performance, I think he’ll enjoy that and go back to work on Monday.”

Cokanasiga enjoyed his best performance yet for England (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

Jonny May added: “There’s no point trying to be Joe – there’s no-one else like him, is there? Eddie has lots of different players to pick from and each has their own style of play, so we all just have to be the best versions of ourselves.

“You don’t get many English wingers like him. Physically, he has size, strength and a good pair of hands on him as well. With his skills-set and he’s such a young guy – I said it during the week; he’s got the world at his feet really. He’s going to keep getting better so we’re lucky to have him.”