England vs Japan: Eddie Jones will have ‘tricks up his sleeve’ and relish Twickenham return, says Ellis Genge | Rugby Union News

Ellis Genge said “good bloke” Eddie Jones is “getting the hang of it” and will relish the opportunity to coach Japan against England on Sunday.

Former England manager Jones will face his former club at Twickenham for the first time since being sacked in 2022 and will aim to end a sixth consecutive defeat against the hosts.

England lost twice in New Zealand over the summer and are currently 0-3 in the Autumn Nations Series at the Allianz Arena, where they will face the All Blacks, Australia and reigning world champions South Africa.

Jones, who was defeated by Steve Borthwick’s Japan team in Tokyo in June before embarking on this futile campaign, recently criticized his tenure as England manager after his tenure as England manager was described as “toxic” by Danny Care. Ta.

Genge made his international debut under Jones in 2016 and said of his former manager:

“Jones is a master of the psychological part of player development.”

“He wasn’t always…he wasn’t always, he wasn’t always nice to me, but we had a good relationship.

“He is a master of the psychological part of player development and player management. Sometimes he does things wrong. There have been some nightmare stories about him lately, but he is a good guy.

“I can’t imagine there will be cheers when he steps in front of the camera, but I think he’ll love that part. He’ll enjoy it. It’ll all be part of his day.”

“He probably has some trick plays up his sleeve and knowing Eddie, he probably takes the game very personally and I love that about him.

“He’s a great coach and Japan is developing as a country in terms of rugby. They’ve improved a lot. They definitely need to use their own wits.”

Genge: England are improving as a team

Genge is also adamant that England are on the right track despite losing this month, their most recent game being a 20-29 come-from-behind defeat to the Springboks a week ago.

Japan’s load has clearly improved. They have a coach that everyone is familiar with now, they are a punchy team and move the ball well, but things could change if they get wet. It will be an exciting sight.

Speaking ahead of what is expected to be a rainy and windy match against Japan, the prop added: “I think we’ve made progress as a team.

“Our review definitely shows an upward curve, not necessarily in results, but in trends and behaviors and how we operate as a team.

“It was good for us. We tested ourselves against the best teams in the world and ran them all by very close margins.

“Everyone will look us in the eye and say we probably should have won some games, but the bottom line is we haven’t won a game yet.

“It would be great if we finished with a win. That’s what we’re going to do every game. But it doesn’t erase what we’ve done up until that point.”

england team

15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Ollie Slightholm, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jacques van Portvliet. 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George (captain), 3 Will Stewart, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Martin, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl.

Alternatives: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Finn Baxter, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjoule, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Chandler Cunningham South 21 Harry Randall, 22 Finn Smith, 23 Tom Roebuck

Japan representative

15 Takuro Matsunaga, 14 Tomoki Nagata, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Siosaia Fifita, 11 Jone Naikabra, 10 Nicholas Macallan, 9 Naoto Saito (captain) 1 Takato Okabe, 2 Mamoru Harada, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 4 Sanaira Waka, 5 Epinelli Uruiviti, 6 Hiroshi Shimokawa, 7 Kazuki Himeno, 8 foulua maxi

replacement item:16 Lee Seung Hyuk, 17 Yukio Morikawa, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Daichi Akiyama, 20 Tevita Tataf, 21 Ben Gunter, 22 Shinobu Fujiwara, 23 Yusuke Kajimura

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