Eddie Jones’ latest pre-season squad just goes to highlight the importance of junior international rugby according to the Australian.
Jones has included Joel Kpoku of Saracens, Jordan Olowofela of Leicester Tigers and Gabriel Ibitoye of Harlequins in his 44-man training squad after watching them play at the World Rugby Under-20 Championships in June, with the latter two having also featured in the Under-20s Six Nations.
They join Chris Ashton, who has been called up for the first time since 2014 after moving back to England with Sale Sharks, and Saracens’ Michael Rhodes.
It is not the first time that Jones has demonstrated the importance of giving youth a chance, after Maro Itoje, Elliot Daly and Kyle Sinckler all making their debuts under his watch.
“We were in Durban for a team dinner and the 20s game was on,” said Jones, whose England side finished fifth in this year’s Six Nations.
“In between eating a piece of fish I watched a bit of the game, and the lock (Kpoku) and winger (Olowofela) caught my eye, so we went and did a bit more investigating.
“People went to their clubs to get feedback on them, and they’re punts for us. Sometimes you roll the dice and your number comes in, they are two young guys who have potential so we will have a look at them in camp and see how they go.”
But Jones was keen to stress that the trio are not merely there to make up the numbers.
Next up for England will be Test matches against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa this autumn during the November Tests ahead of next year’s Six Nations, which they will begin away to defending champions Ireland.
Jones added: “We want to win four Tests in November, expectation is high, but it’s an expectation we have created.
“When I took over the team that was eighth in the world there was no expectation, but when you win and ratings go up, you create expectation – we’re happy to live with that.”
