England 'blessed' with generous 2019 Rugby World Cup schedule as Eddie Jones offers thoughts on Marland Yarde

Eddie Jones believes England have been “blessed” with their 2019 Rugby World Cup schedule after the fixtures were unveiled on Thursday morning.

England will open their account against Tonga in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo on the third day of the tournament and face a tricky four-day turnaround before they take on the United States of America in Kobe, handing head coach Jones his first tricky obstacle.

However, the two sides represent the weakest teams in Pool C, giving England a chance to get up and running before they meet Argentina in the capital city of Tokyo on 5 October, and they wrap up the pool stages against France a week later at the International Yokohama Stadium – scene of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final on 02 November.

The schedule means England will rack-up more than 1,000 air miles after they touch down in Japan before the knockout stage begins, and should Jones’ side emerge from their pool as either winners or runners-up, they will face a quarter-final in the southern city of Oita, with the semi-finals – like the final – also taking place in Yokohama.

“We have been blessed with the locations,” Jones said after learning of the draw in Portugal, where the Australian is currently putting his side through a gruelling training camp ahead of their three autumn internationals against Argentina, Australia and Samoa.

“We have the advantage of being a big team so they want us to play in big grounds at the end of the pool.

“Sapporo is a bit different – not a rugby city and in the middle of nowhere. Then onto Kobe which is a beautiful city.

“We have Argentina in Tokyo, which is a great stadium. I used to live two train stations away from it and know it well.

“Then we have the final pool game against France in Yokohama which gives us a chance to experience what potentially is a ground we will be playing at later in the tournament.”

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The biggest issue for his side will be the quick turnaround between their first and second matches, which is likely to see plenty of player rotation occur in order to keep players fresh for the more difficult games against the Pumas and Les Bleus.

However, it is something that the smaller nations have had to contend with repeatedly in past World Cups, and the move is an intentional one by World Rugby in order to ease the pressure on emerging nations who are trying to upset the tier-one grip on the quarter-finals.

Jones also refused to rule Marland Yarde out of contention for this month’s autumn internationals, despite the wing having to move clubs this week due to an issue with his behaviour that brought a sudden end to his Harlequins career.

After failing to show up for three training sessions in the last three months, Quins’ director of rugby John Kingston elected to let Yarde leave the club having made it clear that he had no future at the Twickenham Stoop. Sale Sharks immediately snapped up the 13-time capped England international, but given he was dropped by Quins for his behaviour, it’s thought that strict-disciplinarian Jones would be unlikely to select the 27-year-old until he proves a change in attitude.

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However, Jones played down that that theory, although while he confirmed that Yarde is still in his thoughts for the three upcoming Tests – mainly due to injuries suffered by three of his wings in Elliot Daly, Jack Nowell and Jonny May – he might not be ready emotionally to return to international rugby.

“Marland's in contention, but we have to assess whether emotionally he'll be right to compete for an England spot,” Jones added.

“He's left the club that he loved to join another club, is he in the right condition to compete for a spot? It's like having a relationship break up, sometimes it takes time for people to get over it and I'm not sure where he's at.

“We didn't not select him because of behaviour, it was because Denny (Solomona) scored more tries than him.”