Eddie Jones’ Squad Selections Continue To Divide Opinion

England head-coach Eddie Jones recently announced his 36-man wider training squad and he has caused considerable controversy by leaving out fly-half Danny Cipriani. Jones claims he is the third or fourth choice ten and has been left out because of form. Twitter responded mainly by criticising the decision.

Several rugby fans acknowledged that Jones claims to be picking the squad on form, and yet the undefeated Exeter Chiefs, have only three players selected to the squad (though Ben Moon was later called into the squad).

Regardless of Jones’s decisions, rugby battle continued this weekend in the Gallagher Premiership and Guinness Pro 14 with Cipriani, along with other absentees Don Armand and Sam Simmonds, all in action for their respective clubs.

Simmonds in particular dusted off the disappointment by scoring two tries in Exeter’s 24-17 victory over Newcastle Falcons.

Whilst Exeter are flourishing at the moment, Leicester Tigers are going in the opposite direction. A week after a tough loss to Wasps, the Tigers looked to get back on track as they welcomed Worcester to Welford Road. However they were once again on the losing side thanks to a last-minute try scored by Worcester’s Ted Hill.

Northampton Saints also scored a last-minute try against Bath, With Tom Collins the man crossing the line.

However the missed conversion by fly-half Dan Bigger cost his team the chance to escape with a draw. The final score was 17-15 to Bath.

The Bristol Bears were also in a nail-biting affair against Harlequins. Up 20-13 with 15 minutes left, the pressure was clearly getting to the entire club as shown by their tweet below! (As it would turn out, Bristol managed to hold on to the victory by the same scoreline).

Shifting to the Pro14, Justin Tipuric scored a sublime solo try in his Osprey’s match-up against Benetton.

Ulster managed to secure a dramatic draw with the South Africa based Cheetahs this weekend. Henry Speight scored the crucial try as time expired and with the last kick of the game Billy Burns nailed the conversion to share the points in Bloemfontein.

Simon Zebo also continues to tear up the Top 14, picking up another two tries for Racing 92. This week his side beat Castres 27-11 and he currently is tied for top try-scorer in the competition with Stade Francais back Gael Fickou. They both have five tries already.

One of his tries was set up beautifully by Finn Russell as you can see below;

In international rugby, The Rugby Championship starts again this upcoming weekend with New Zealand going up against Argentina and South Africa hosting the Wallabies. In fact the Springboks welcomed the Wallabies into Port Elizabeth ahead of their potentially crucial matchup in a brilliant act of sportsmanship.

And finally, on a humorous note, Nigel Owens, after taking a drink, decided to spray a water-boy when he had finished. The boy has since promised revenge although according to Owens, he missed the young lad anyway!

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