DUBAI // To celebrate Eddie Jones’ 57th birthday this week, his England squad clubbed together to buy their coach a non-slip bath-mat.
The Australian presently bears very visible scars from a fall in the bathroom, and his players were taking the mickey. Which is the sort of thing you can do when you are still part of the gang. Still part of the WhatsApp group.
As a recently-absented friend, Alex Goode was not part of the birthday banter. But he might have been moved to send Jones a forget-me-not, at least.
The Saracens full-back was voted the best player in England’s Premiership last season. He played for the national team in November, but has been left on the outside looking in since.
Mike Brown, the incumbent full-back, has long been one of the first names on the team sheet. And in the lead up to the Six Nations, Jones has also mentioned Anthony Watson, Elliot Daly and Alex Lozowski (Goode’s junior teammate at Saracens) as potential 15s for England.
__________________________________
Read more
■ Alex Goode delivers expertise and trophies in Dubai
■ Harlequins 'still have another gear' after extending West Asia Premiership run
■ Henry Paul rubbishes talk of Bradford switch
__________________________________
Even though that looks like a long queue forming, Goode, who is still only 28, has not given up the ghost. Despite being out of the team, off the WhatsApp group (by his own choice) and injured anyway, Goode was in jovial form during a trip to Dubai last weekend. He says he still sees a future for him in Jones’ England.
“It was a conversation between me and him,” Goode said. “He knows what he wants. He wants someone who is extremely quick as a full-back. It’s not that I’m not quick. I am a quick rugby player, but it is slightly different to what he wants.
“While Owen [Farrell] and George [Ford] are there, there is less of a need for that second ball player. I have to accept that.
“There is no point moaning, you just have to keep working hard to try to prove a point. I don’t think my England career is over, I am going to keep working hard to try to get back in.”
The fact he has a clear idea of what he needs to do to get back in favour is no surprise, seeing as he says clarity is Jones’ biggest attribute.
The coach’s methods are working. England have enjoyed 14 successive wins since he took over the role after a shocking home World Cup cost Stuart Lancaster the job.
In 2016, they became only the third country from rugby’s top flight to have recorded a perfect year. A second successive grand slam, starting against France on Saturday, would set a new world record for wins.
England are not working any harder than before, according to Goode. They are working more smartly, thanks to Jones’ guidance.
“He has a huge amount of knowledge,” Goode said. “He watches 20 or 30 matches of rugby a week. He is switched on, and what he has done is bring clarity.
“Everybody knows what his role is, what is expected of him, and where he needs to be. You could argue that in the World Cup there was an element of, in attack, for example, do we go round the corner, do we do this, do we do that?
“It wasn’t that people weren’t working hard. Everyone was busting a gut. The difference between busting a gut when you are not quite sure where you are going, and busting a gut when know exactly where you are meant to be, is that you can give it 100 per cent, every time.
“That is what Eddie brought - a huge amount of clarity. There are lots of little things, too, but the clarity was everything.”
Watson, who is also now injured ahead of the Six Nations start, commented last week that Jones had made the atmosphere around the national team feel more like one that surrounds a club. Goode agrees, saying their form has improved with new found togetherness.
Goode played under Jones as a young professional at Saracens, when – in stark contrast to now – the former Australia coach only enjoyed indifferent results.
“A culture only works if you live it, and everyone lives it,” Goode said. “We talked about it, or were told about it a lot under the previous regime, but it wasn’t that close a group. Unlike now, where there have been initiatives put in place for us to get together.
“It is hard, but the effort has certainly been made for us to do that. It is funny, because that is not Eddie’s style massively. But he has understood the impact it can have, for everyone to be close.”
Six Nations fixtures and UAE kick-off times
• Saturday, February 4: Scotland v Ireland (6.25pm), England v France (8.50pm)
• Sunday, February 5: Italy v Wales (6pm)
• Saturday, February 11: Italy v Ireland (6.45pm), Wales v England (8.50pm)
• Sunday, February 12: France v Scotland (7pm)
• Saturday, February 25: Scotland v Wales (6.25pm), Ireland v France (8.50pm)
• Sunday, February 26: England v Italy (7pm)
• Friday, March 10: Wales v Ireland (11pm)
• Saturday, March 11: Italy v France (4.30pm), England v Scotland (7pm)
• Saturday, March 18: Scotland v Italy (3.30pm), France v Wales (5.45pm), Ireland v England (8pm)
pradley@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport