MX23RW : Friday, April 26 22:20:54| >> :600:3204877:3204877:
Six Nations | Group Stage
Mar 16, 2019 at 5pm UK
 
England
38-38
Scotland
Nowell (2'), Curry (9'), Launchbury (19'), May (29'), Ford (80')
FT
McInally (35'), Graham (47', 57'), Bradbury (50'), Russell (60'), Johnson (76')

England head coach Jones hints Cokanasiga is part of World Cup plans

England head coach Jones hints Cokanasiga is part of World Cup plans
© Reuters
The wing has been dropped for the final Six Nations match against Scotland.

Eddie Jones hints that Joe Cokanasiga will be part of England's World Cup squad despite dropping the rookie wing for the climax to the Guinness Six Nations against Scotland.

A week after being compared to Jonah Lomu by Sir Clive Woodward in response to a bulldozing man of the match display against Italy, Cokanasiga is unable to even secure a place on the bench.

Taking the Fijian-born giant's place on the right wing is Jack Nowell, who has recovered from a shoulder stinger injury, while Ben Te'o is present as replacement threequarter cover.

Jones explained the shock selection by revealing he has a plan based on the summer's four World Cup warm-up Tests that will will develop the 21-year-old in time for Japan 2019.

"Joe's a good, young player and we're looking after him. He'll feature very strongly in our plans for the future but we just feel that this week Jack is our best player in that position," Jones said.

"We've got a good plan in place for him. He'll be ready by the World Cup. I don't need to reveal my selection plans for the future but I do know he'll be ready for the World Cup.

"We don't need to rush him. We'll bring him through carefully and he's got a long career ahead of him. I've got some reasonable experience doing this.

"Sometimes you let them go and sometimes you pull them back a bit. We just feel it's right for him this week to not be involved in the matchday squad.

"He'll still learning from being around the squad and will feature heavily in our warm-up games for the World Cup."

Jones has reverted to his first choice midfield with Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade paired in the centres outside Owen Farrell, resulting in Te'o's demotion.

Tuilagi gave rugby on these shores a big boost on Wednesday by agreeing a new two-year contract with Leicester, in the process rejecting a substantial offer from Racing 92 that would have made him unavailable for England.

"Manu's future is looked after and we're really happy for him. The improvements will come in his speed, power, timing, his running lines. He will be a real handful for Scotland this weekend," Jones said.

In total there are four changes in personnel to the XV that battered Italy 57-14 at Twickenham with Ben Moon restored at loosehead prop ahead of Ellis Genge and Mark Wilson displacing Brad Shields at blindside flanker.

Ben Youngs will be making his 85th England appearance to surpass the national record for a scrum-half held by Danny Care.

England will win the Six Nations title if they regain the Calcutta Cup and Wales fail in their Grand Slam bid against Ireland in Cardiff. Jones has seized the opportunity to crank-up the pressure on Warren Gatland's men.

"It's a fascinating close to the tournament. You have three teams who can win it," Jones said.

Wales v England – Guinness Six Nations – Principality Stadium
England head coach Eddie Jones, right, has questioned the fatigue of Wales, who are coached by Warren Gatland, left (David Davies/PA)

"Wales are a very good team. They are very well coached, great credit to them for what they have done – but they are starting to look a bit tired.

"They have made more tackles than anyone else in the tournament and they are playing against an Ireland side that seems to be peaking at the right time.

"You look at guys like Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose and Peter O'Mahony who weren't in great form at the start of the tournament but are now starting to come to the fore.

"I'm sure the crowd will hep Wales overcome that tiredness but its going to be a great game."

The showdown with Scotland could be Jones' final Six Nations match with his future beyond the World Cup uncertain.

"Well that's not for me to decide. Other people decide that. I don't know," Jones said.

"The only thing I know is that we have had a great week this week and we are absolutely excited by the prospect of us finishing well."

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Duncan Bech, Press Association Sport England Rugby Correspondent');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '2cc17a00-dcff-4f9f-8b17-39993d89ee09');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:uk');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:rugby-union');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'England head coach Jones hints Cokanasiga is part of World Cup plans'});

ID:353380: cacheID:353380:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:10930:No Data Analysis info
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Manu Tuilagi in action for England on March 9, 2019
Read Next:
Jonny May hopes Manu Tuilagi staying at Leicester can revitalise the Tigers
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
10am
Bublik
Carballes Baena
10am
Marozsan
Cerundolo
10am
Musetti
Seyboth Wild
10am
Paul
Klein
10am
Rublev
Bagnis
10am
Andreeva
Noskova
10am
Bronzetti
Rybakina
10am
Garcia
Wang
10am
Pavlyuchenkova
Saville
11.30am
Altmaier
Fils
11.30am
Martin Etcheverry
Shapovalov
11.30am
Alexandrova
Krueger
11.30am
Bucsa
Kasatkina
11.30am
Dolehide
Kalinina
11.30am
Jimenez Kasintseva
Paolini
11.30am
Linette
Sabalenka
1pm
Baez
Van Assche
1pm
Hurkacz
Draper
1pm
Bejlek
Kalinskaya
1pm
Cristian
Krejcikova
1pm
Kostyuk
Sherif
2pm
Zheng
Putintseva
2.30pm
Humbert
Van De Zandschulp
2.30pm
Darderi
Fritz
2.30pm
Boulter
Montgomery
3pm
Shevchenko
Alcaraz
3.30pm
Vondrousova
Rogers
4pm
Griekspoor
Daniel
4pm
Munar
Struff
5pm
Navone
Rune
7pm
Coric
Zverev
8.30pm
Collins
Danilovic
11.30am
Shang
Davidovich Fokina


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!