Recent World Cups and Six Nations have been won by sides led by talismanic forwards at the heart of the action
Whenever England flatter to deceive the mind drifts back to Brighton sea front. The date was 19 September 2015 and the beach was packed with fans awaiting the World Cup pool game between South Africa and Japan. Not a soul – even in Hove, actually – gave the Brave Blossoms any chance of overcoming the mighty Springboks.
Aside, that is, from one man. It emerged afterwards that Japan’s head coach, a certain Eddie Jones, had been plotting how to win this particular fixture for two years. He knew South Africa would be bigger and stronger but, despite suffering a stroke in 2013 that put him in hospital for six weeks, he had worked tirelessly to ensure his men were smarter, more technically accurate and ready to go the distance, physically and mentally.
Written by Robert Kitson
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/19/england-eddie-jones-world-cup-captain-maro-itoje under the title “Making Maro Itoje captain could give England a new dimension | Robert Kitson”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
